Forever and Always
by Lass of the Lake
Summary: [Reboot] Sydney LeHaye is new to La Push and never would have dreamed she'd find anything there other than a place to stay until her family uprooted again, but when Paul Lahote enters her life, everything changes. But Sydney is being hunted by someone from her past and it's up to the pack members to save her, but that's difficult with both sides keeping secrets.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I suddenly got a review on this story the other day. I hadn't thought of this story in over a year, yet suddenly, my mind was flooded with it. I decided to give the rewrite I'd talked about a stab. Keep in mind, I was only 14 the when I first began writing this, so some things are going to be different. The general story, however, will stay pretty much similar. Enjoy!**

 **As ever, I do not own any rights to Twilight - nor would I want to - and I take no credit for the creation of any of the characters from that series - only my OC's.**

Chapter 1: New Beginnings and Other Cheese

 _"The pack? Is that the name of your gang or something?"_

* * *

I've always found flying to be very relaxing.

Maybe it's because I went on countless flights as a child. Until I hit school age, my pilot father's solution to not having family around to help care for me and not wanting to leave me with a baby sitter or nanny for long periods of time was to just bring me on flights with him. I guess it also jist helps me remember him. He died when I was 10, so there were things I'd forgotten about him, but his passion for flying wasn't one of them.

Me and my parents - adoptive, though they didn't always feel like it - flew a lot. Dad traveled from one Native American reservation to another, garnering information for his books and seminars and mom did interior design and was popular among celebrities, so she flew out to LA and New York a lot for her job.

Dad had recently gotten an itch to go to the reservation mom had grown up on - they were both Native American, but dad hadn't grown up on a res, which is what he attributes having a more profound fascination with his culture, as well as other Native American cultues, to. It was because of this that we were now on our way to La Push, Washington to stay on the Quileute Reservation for an indefinite time period while Dad wrote.

I looked over at my father and found he still looked rather green. As often as we flew, you'd think he'd have more of a stomach for it. He was slouched in his chair, a faint sheen of sweat glistening on his brow and one hand on the barf bag in his lap. Jedidiah LeHaye was nothing if not prepared.

I was sandwiched between my parents on the flight. Dad needed the aisle seat and mom needed to not be next to him if he heaved. She was sleeping soundly on my other side, a satin pink sleep mask with "sweet dreams" embroidered on it resting over her eyes.

I could see the visible relief on my father's face when our descent was announced. "Oh, thank god," he breathed. And then he turned to me with a weak smile. "Are you excited, Syd?"

I smiled back. "Of course I am, dad."

It was true. I'd gotten to have some cool experiences since they'd begun fostering me, and subsequently adopted me. I'd been to Broadway shows with mom, I'd gone to some really interesting seminars with dad, and I'd gotten to live in a lot of different environments and experience different things. I was always ready for our next family journey.

I'd also heard a ton about my mom's cousin, Sarah, and her family and I was super excited to meet them for the first time.

We disembarked from the plane, dad half supporting mom as she was only awake enough to move her feet and give answers to very basic questions.

Dad had driven up his the car the previous week so it was already waiting in airport parking for us. He'd be going back to Oklahoma 2 more times before the end of the month to drive mom's car up, followed by mine. Since I wasn't enrolling in classes - I wanted an idea of how long we'd be here before I committed to college courses and I hadn't decided on a major yet anyway - and you could walk everywhere on the reservation, I wasn't anticipating needing my car too much right away.

The drive was a couple hours so dad and I caffed up, put mom in the back to sleep some more - she was fully unconscious again within 2 minutes - and began playing the alphabet game to pass the time.

I won a round, followed by dad whipping me in the next 2. I think I got to F in the fourth round before I passed out myself.

Next I knew, we were stopped and dad was shaking me awake. "Sydney, wake up," he cooed, "we're here."

I groggily peered out the windshield to see that were were parked in front of a modest two story grey brick house with a powder blue door. There was already a flowery wreath on it - mom's handiwork I was sure - and a 'SOLD' sign stood proudly in the yard. I leaned down to grab my bag of essentials and exited the car. The bigger stuff had been sent ahead a couple weeks ago before they closed on the house, so I knew my nice comfy bed would be waiting for me upstairs and I would gladly fall into it after almost two weeks on an inflatable mattress.

"Your bedroom is up the stairs and on the left, Sydney," Dad called out to me from where he was trying to ease mom into an upright position so that he could extract her from the car. She wasn't making it easy for him, that was for sure.

"Thanks, Dad!"

I strode up to the front door and pulled out my keys, taking the newest shiniest one in my hand and easing it into the keyhole, unlocking the door to my new home for the very first time. It was very clear that mom hadn't gotten to work her magic on the place yet. If she had, there'd be pictures everywhere, but the walls were bare and obscuring our beautiful, plush sectional was a mountain of boxes that had yet to be unpacked. Mom would fix that soon enough.

I went up the stairs and turned left and found my room. My dresser was there and my bed had already been made up, which was good, because I really doubt I could have found the energy to do it before I crashed. The rest of my room was just boxes and bags. A task for tomorrow.

I think I got about as far as sitting down to pull off my shoes before I knocked out.

~Forever and Always~

The next morning, I awoke to the smell of fresh coffee and bacon wafting into my room. I imagine that's what the perfume of a siren smells like. However, the sound that actually caused me to wake up was a lot less pleasant. It was like the bell tower of Notre Dam was located in my room and had just started to chime. It was _loud._

I walked down the stairs, still clad in yesterdays jeans and tee, only to see that my mom had gone into hyper drive when she woke up this morning. The entryway was already covered with framed photos of me and my parents over the last 9 years, plus my school photos that mom tracked down after my adoption became official. I could faintly here her humming in the kitchen as she cooked, the popping and sizzling of the bacon louder than she was. _She must be wearing her headphones,_ I thought to myself. The doorbell sounded again, and even though it was a lot quieter down here, I still wondered how she couldn't hear it. "I guess I'll get the door," I said to myself. Dad wouldn't rise from the dead for another hour, I was sure, so it really was up to me.

Turning the latch, I swung the door open to reveal a woman who looked very similar to my mom, just a little shorter and plumper, and two very tall young men. Very tall. Like, each was well over 6'0". The woman beamed so hard I thought the smile might split her face. "Oh, my God! You're Sydney!" Before I could respond, I was enveloped in a tight hug. "Missy has told me so much about you! I've been wanting to meet you forever!"

Still trapped in the hug, I felt awkward and only managed to say, "You must be Sarah."

Sarah stepped back from the hug, still grinning. "Oh, yes, I'm sorry. I am Sarah and this is my son, Collin." Collin maneuvered the tin foil dishes in his hand to wave a little bit. "And these are his friends, Brady and - oh..." she trailed off, taking a quick glance behind the other two, "I thought I had another one with me."

Brady, who was shorter and brawnier than Collin was, spoke up, "Oh you did. Seth ran off though. Jake gave him a call - said he needed him and it was urgent, so he left us with his mountain of food to cart around and went off to be Jake's hero." He then turned from Sarah to me. "Welcome to the Res, Sydney. Don't worry about being the new girl. Me and the guys will show you the ropes, and you know, keep an eye on you." He might as well have thrown in a wink for how suggestive his tone was, but I suspect that would have earned him a smack from Sarah. He looked older than me, but I sincerely doubted he was over 18 with the way he was speaking.

Collin guffawed next to him, obviously incredulous, and shoved him with his shoulder. "Oh, please. You couldn't look after a pet rock. We all know I'll be protecting Syd. You just wish you had my skills, bro."

I wanted to ask who in this world said I'd need protecting, but just then, my mom noticed the congregation in the front room. "Sarah!" she squealed, rushing towards her cousin and crushing her in a hug. "It's been so long!"

"I know!" Sarah yelped, matching her squeal with her own. "Almost ten years, right?"

"Near enough," Mom replied, then targeting the two boys behind her. "Collin, you've gotten so tall! Last time I saw you, you were only, like, half your height. Quite a growth spurt. You know, Sarah," she said, changing gears at lightning speed," he looks exactly like Grandpa did at his age." Mom smiled and pinched his cheek, something that looked really awkward from a very vibrant woman in her mid-thirties, along with the fact that she had to reach up quite a bit to achieve it. "Very handsome." Mom then turned her sights on Brady. "I take it that this is Brady, part of the infamous pack."

 _Pack?_ I thought to myself confused at the weird name for a group of people. Wasn't pack usually used to describe wolves and other canines? "The pack? Is that the name of your gang or something?" I asked sarcastically.

Collin and Brady shared a knowing look. "Something like that," Collin said, with a smirk. "I see your mom has made a shrine to your family too." I noticed that he was obviously changing the subject, but I honestly wasn't quite awake enough yet to try to steer it back... or to even really care that it had been steered away from their weird gang name in the first place.

I needed coffee.

"Yeah, mom does love her pictures," I agreed, trying and failing to stifle a yawn. "I'm going to go get some coffee if you want to come in and put all that food down."

Mom must have realized that she hadn't actually invited them in since she said, "Oh, yes, please come in. I made enough breakfast for everyone. Sarah told me you boys eat a lot so I really piled up the eggs and bacon. Plus, there's fresh fruit and English muffins."

We all filed into the kitchen. I glossed right over the food and went straight for the coffee pot, filling my mug half way with what might as well be the nectar of life and then filling the other half with the white chocolate mocha creamer my mom had left on the counter for me. I took a sip of the warm beige liquid filling my cup and sighed contentedly as I felt it descend, warming my tummy with it's familiar caffeine-y goodness. When I looked up, I saw Collin and Brady staring at me with amused looks on their faces. Mom and Sarah paid the rest of us no mind as they filled up plates and mom took her to see the rest of the house.

"You really like coffee, huh?" said Brady, chuckling a little.

I then noticed that I'd even grabbed my, "Give me coffee and no one gets hurt mug," further solidifying the coffee addict vibe. I grinned, laughing a little myself. "Figure that out on your own, Sherlock?" I quipped. "I'll have you know that coffee sustains my life force and the vivacious person who you have not yet met but I will become later in the day when my caffeine hits."

Both of them laughed, and we all filled our plates with the absolute smorgasbord that mom had prepared. I decided to make two little English muffin sandwiches with the eggs and bacon, pulling some cheese slices from the fridge to complete them. Collin copied me, stealing some of my cheese, for which I bump him with my shoulder. I already felt rather comfortable with the boys and I was excited to meet the rest of the guys in "the pack." The three of us sat down at the breakfast table together, chatting comfortably. "So, Sydney, how old are you?" Brady asked.

I looked at Brady and cocked an eyebrow. "Didn't your mother ever tell you it's not polite to ask a lady how old she is?"

"I don't see any lady."

I threw a grape at the smirking Brady, but he just leaned and caught it with his mouth. I pout a little at my fun being spoiled. "I'm 20."

Brady groans. "Damn, I was hoping you were still in high school... I'd have loved to walk in tomorrow with a hot chick."

Collin laughs mockingly. "Like she would have walked in with you anyway. I'm her cousin... sort of. I would have shown her the ropes."

I rolled my eyes, super glad that I was done with high school. While hanging out with these guys wouldn't have been terrible, going back to high school would not have been worth it. I took another gulp of my coffee while they bickered a little bit about how my first theoretical day at the res high school would have gone. I thought about my last day in a normal high school. My family was moving to Oklahoma and I was going to be doing online schooling for the remainder of my junior year as well as my senior year. I thought about all the friends I said good bye to and the boyfriend I'd had to break up with. Yeah, I definitely never wanted to go back to high school.

"Hey, Syd," Collin said, breaking me from my thoughts. "Do you want to come with us to meet the pack after school tomorrow? Sam and Emily are doing burgers tomorrow night for everyone. I'm sure they wouldn't mind throwing a couple extra patties on the grill."

I smiled, delighted by the invitation. "Sure! I'd love to meet everyone."

"Maybe I'll feed you a french fry," Brady said suggestively, waggling his eyebrows comically. I made a face and a gagging noise, causing his face to drop and Collin to laugh heartily. Brady pouted and crossed his arms, slouching in his chair. "Oh yeah, she's definitely going to get along with the other girls," he grumbled.

We spent the rest of the morning talking like old friends. The boys put away more food that morning apiece than I would for the rest of the day. At some point, mom and Sarah came back to the kitchen after mom had finished showing her the house. All and all, my first morning in La Push was the best morning I'd had in a long time. It looked like everyone was going to be very welcoming and I was already making friends. Eventually, though, Sarah said something about needing to get home and having errands to run before too much of the day. Mom and I saw them off at the door.

She turned to me and said, "It seems like those boys were really nice." Mom nudged me. "Look at you, already making friends." She then disappeared off into the house to do more unpacking, I was sure. I smiled, and headed upstairs to listen to some music and get my room in order. I was inexplicably happy for the rest of the day, even though I was just unpacking, but I'd already started making new friends and I was invited to a party (sort of) the day after I'd moved.

All in all, it seemed like this was going to be a good new beginning, no matter how cheesy that sounded.

* * *

 **A/N: It took me, like, no time (relatively) to write this. Hopefully the words keep flowing smoothly for me as I continue this rewrite. I said I might do it years ago, and I'm sorry to any of my old readers who might still be following me and happen to find this reboot.**

 **Just to clarify, Jake, Quil and Embry are the same age as Sydney, but I will be aging up Sam, Paul, Jared and Leah, as well as Kim, Emily and Claire (because the whole Claire being 2 thing freaked me out. At least it was a little better if she was 13 to his 16.)**

 **I hope you enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed writing it.**

 **Lass of the Lake**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Meet the Pack

"Honey, I'm home! And I brought our new captive- I mean friend!"

* * *

The next morning, I was mostly done unpacking my room and I was starting to get kind of antsy. Collin and Brady had said they'd come get me for the get together after they got out of school, but I was sort of at a loss for what to do for the rest of the day. I contemplated getting out my sketch journal and working on one of my drawings or just finishing sorting out my room and then vegging for a few hours but I was bored.

I finally decided that I want to go to the beach and look for shells. I had a seashell collection and I was always looking to add to it. We lived pretty close to the beach, too, so I could probably walk there and walk back before three o'clock and still get some decent time there. With that in mind, I threw open the doors to my closet and pulled out my tankini. It was brightly colored with bright pink, blue and purple flowers with green accents against a white background with a black little skirt bottom. As I was slipping it on, I caught sight of my surfboard leaning against the back of my closet. I hadn't been on it in years, since before Oklahoma, even - not since the accident. I briefly debated bringing it out and taking it to the beach with me, but decided I wasn't ready for that yet.

I grabbed a bag and put my towel and sunscreen in it. I left enough space to put any shells that I found, threw on my swim suit cover and trounced downstairs. Mom was working in the office, her hair thrown into a messy bun and her glasses sliding down her nose as she studiously stared at the screen, which had a 3D rendering of a living room on it. She was shuffling different pieces of furniture around like she was disarming a bomb. Her passion for interior design was really quite amazing.

"I'm going to the beach to collect shells, mom!" I called out to her as I headed toward the kitchen.

"Mm'kay," she replied distractedly, "take your cell phone and drink water."

I snorted a little, but obediently grabbed two bottles of water from the fridge and threw them into my bag. Dad was sitting at the breakfast table, reading the paper with a mug of coffee in front of him, looking like the epitome of the dad stereotype. He was even graying just a tad at the age of 40 - very classic dad. "Didn't take you long to get a hankering for the ocean, did it, Little Mermaid?" he asked, looking up at me from over his news paper. I could tell by the headline it was an old paper. Dad would pick up a paper, would't read it for a month after he picked it up, and by then, knew most of the big news that the paper covered - it was a weird quirk, one that drove my mom crazy.

"I've gotta go find my thingamabobs, dad. What can I say?" I quipped back, turning to pour myself a cup of coffee. Since mom had gotten sucked into her work early this morning, I was either going to have to make my own eggs, - I always burnt or under cooked them - eat cereal or have a bagel. I decided to go with the bagel.

Dad chuckled behind me. "Well, just be careful. Don't step on any glass or get sucked into the... current." Dad's tone dropped at the end, becoming grim, seemingly remembering the last time I got dragged into the current. My accident, where I'd fallen off my board, gotten swept up into the undertow and gotten thrown by the sea headfirst into a crag of rocks, nearly drowning me and giving me a nasty concussion.

"Nah, dad. I'll probably only go waist deep to cool down. I'll mostly be walking the shore to find shells," I said lightly, trying reassure him.

He didn't reply, so after I finished smearing my bagel with cream cheese, I went over and gave him a hug. I took a look at the paper. "Bombings in Libya, and you're scared for your daughter going to look for seashells, you weirdo."

This time he chuckled. "Yeah, when you put it that way, I guess you're right. Okay, baby girl, have fun. Your ole dad's going to take a stab at this crossword." He gave me a kiss on the side of the head. "See you tonight."

I grinned, grabbing my bagel and smashing the two cream cheese smeared pieces together to make it more portable. "Bye guys!" I called as I ran out of the house towards the beach.

It only took me about 20 minutes to walk to the beach. During the trek, I pried the two halves of bagel apart and snacked as I walked and took a couple sips of water that I was glad mom had reminded me to bring. While May in Washington was by no means as grueling as it was down in Oklahoma, it was still on the warmer side and I knew after a few hours at the beach with no water, I would have been pretty parched. Once I got to the beach, I set down my stuff on my towel, staking a little piece of the shore as my own. I grabbed my cell out of my bag and slipped it into the pocket of my swimsuit cover, hoping that it would be harder to find and therefore steal if it wasn't just laying out in my bag. I sprayed myself down with sunscreen, merely hoping that I'd managed to cover all of back and that the sunburn wouldn't be too bad if I missed some parts. I was a lot paler than most of the residents of the reservation, being non-Native American myself, and therefore would probably burn worse too.

I began walking along where the surf met the short, the water lapping at my feet as I went, looking for shells. I was rather picky about what kind of shells I would take home, so it was quite the hunt. I found half a sand dollar that I discarded and there were lots of small shells that had little chips or holes. I found a few here and there and once I found a few, I'd go deposit them back into my bag.

After I'd walked up and down the beach a few times, I got tired and was feeling a bit warm, so I decided to go sit in the shallows for a little bit before I made the walk home. I was shoving my hands into the moist dirt when I found what felt like a shell. I pulled it up, and indeed, it was a shell, but it wasn't empty. I could see little hermit crab legs pulled tightly inside. I put it down, not wanting to cause it too much distress. I hear a tiny little noise from where I'd placed the shell, but try not to focus too hard on it.

"Hey!" a voice shouts from behind me. I turn to see a young woman in a pretty pink bikini coming towards me and a guys standing on the shore behind her. She stops short when I turn. "Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you were a friend of mine. You have the same hair."

I wave her off. "It's fine. I get that a lot." It was true. Straight, unremarkable brown hair and pretty average features made me one of those faces everyone thinks they know until they get closer. I stand up, getting ready to go towel off and head home, expecting that to be the end of that interaction.

Apparently, she had other ideas. "Hi, my name is Kim," she introduced herself with a smile. "Are you from Forks? I don't remember ever seeing you before."

"Um, no, I just moved to the reservation with my parents. My name is Sydney."

Her eyes lit up. "Oh, _you're_ Sydney!"

I cocked an eyebrow at her, a little weirded out by her reaction. "Yes..." I said slowly, "do you know me?"

Kim giggled a little. "Collin is pretty good friends with my fiance, Jared," she said, vaguely gesturing back towards the guy on the shore, "so he started mentioning something about a cousin of his mother's moving here a few weeks ago and how he was going to try and help her daughter, Sydney, get used to Res life. Then, yesterday, he calls Jare, saying that he's going to be bringing his cousin to the cook out tonight. He was super excited that you were fun to hang out with."

Aww, that was kind of sweet. _I think I'm going to like having Collin for a cousin_ , I think to myself. "Gotcha," I say. "So I guess you guys are part of the pack?"

"Oh, yeah. We were actually just about to head over to Sam and Emily's if you'd like to join us."

I was just about to refuse, when the potential for a small prank occurred to me. "Yeah, sure," I agreed, grinning. Kim was so friendly, I was already feeling quite comfortable with her too. It was weird. I'd never really made friends this quickly before. "How would you feel about pulling one over on Collin and Brady?"

Kim beamed. "I already love you," she said, grabbing my hand and pulling me towards where her fiance was still waiting for her. "Jared, this is Sydney. Y'know, Collin's cousin? Anyway, she wants to pull a prank on them."

Jared nodded, an appreciative look on his face. "Nice, a prank right out of the gate. What is it?"

I explained my plan to them as we grabbed my stuff and headed to Jared's truck. I sent a quick text to my mom, saying I'd met one of Collin's friends at the beach and I was going to go ahead onto the party with them, but I had a favor to ask of her. Mom quickly messaged back, saying she was game. Mom was always up for a prank. The things we'd pulled over on my dad together... I learned from the best.

Jared called ahead and told Sam that I was coming with them, but not to pass that info on to Collin and Brady. Kim lent me a t-shirt and shorts so that I didn't have to wear my swimsuit to the party and I shimmied into the borrowed clothes on the ride. It was a pretty short ride - La Push was pretty small, after all - and pretty soon we were pulling up in front of a small, red house with a multitude of cars and motorcycles parked along the drive way, some pulled aside into the grass. Jared pulled in next to shiny green motorcycle, and we all got out, heading for the back door of the house.

"Honey, I'm home," Kim yelled as she burst into the house without knocking. "And I brought our new captive- I mean friend."

I hesitated a little, suddenly a little scared to walk into a den of people I didn't know, but Jared was still behind me and didn't let me wait too long before giving me a little nudge through the door. I walked into a sizable kitchen with a table in the center that hosted two guys. A woman with an apron draped over a large pregnant belly and a man who looked a bit older than everyone else were standing next to the counter, presumably having paused cooking at Kim's announcement. I waved, feeling a tad awkward. "Hi, I'm Sydney."

"You're shorter than I thought you'd be," came the response from one of the guys at the table.

THWACK! The woman in the apron smacked him across the back of the head with a wooden spoon. "Embry Call," she scolded as he winced a bit and rubbed his head - for which I couldn't blame him since she seemed to have beamed him pretty hard - turning around to face her. The side of her face that wasn't marred with scarring was frowning a bit with motherly disapproval. "That's no way to greet a guest." She huffed before turning to me and offering a welcoming smile. "It's nice to meet you, Sydney. I'm Emily and this is my husband, Sam Uley."

"Nice to meet you, too, Thanks for having me over tonight." I said. "So, Embry, huh? Collin says I shouldn't trust anything you say and that you're a bad influence."

Embry gasped in mock offence. "I'm a great influence. Collin's just mad that he's not smoothe enough to get a date using one of my lines and instead of acknowledging that, he says I give bad advice."

"Your 'line'," the other guy at the table piped up, "was stupid and something I know for a fact you'd never say. 'Are you the goddess of asses cause I want to worship your booty.' I still can't believe he fell for it in the first place." I snickered a little at the absolutely terrible line. He then turned to me and... wow, was he cute. "I'm Seth, by the way."

"I thought you two were supposed to meet this morning," Sam said, embracing Emily from behind and linking his fingers over the widest part of her baby bump. Aw, weren't they a cute couple.

Something in Seth's face shifted a little. "Uh, Jake called me away on... business this morning before we all left for Sydney's family's place, so I didn't get a chance to meet her this morning." I tried to look around the room for clues as to why Seth had gone from easy going to a little tense in the span of a few seconds, but everyone else in the room sort of mirrored his expression with tension that wasn't there before. I was at a loss and not quite familiar enough with everyone to feel comfortable asking what had just happened so I stayed quiet and simply waited for answers.

"There was a rush on a custom paint job and every one knows you're the best we've got." The door, which remained open after Jared, Kim and I had made our entrance, was where the new voice came from and I turned to see another guy with a square face and a thick jaw. And, like every guy I'd met from this group so far, rather tall. He was also covered in grease stains and looked unreasonably ripped underneath the tank top he was wearing. "Yo, you must be Sydney. I'm Jacob Black, but you can call me Jake."

Almost as if by magic, everyone relaxed when Jacob entered the room and though I noticed and had questions, I decided it wasn't my place. Not yet, anyway.

"So, Sydney, Jared mentioned some sort of prank on the phone? What do you have in mind?"

After I explained my small prank, Embry promptly held up his hand for a high five which I happily gave. "You are cool and I think I might love you. If only you weren't so short." He sighed wistfully. I made a face and nudged him.

Shortly after, I received a text from my mom that simply said, "It is done." I texted back a thank you and promptly shut off my phone so Collin couldn't call me and spoil my prank. "All right, now all we have to do is wait."

I spent the next hour or so getting to know the members of the pack that were present better. I found out that Emily was carrying twins - a boy and a girl - and she showed me the nursery she and Sam were setting up for the babies that would probably be arriving in about two and a half months or so. I also learned that Seth was a bit of an artist like myself and he showed me the sketch he'd been working on for a few days - it was of a beautiful little spring that he said he'd show me sometime if I wanted. Jake owned an auto shop that he, Embry, Seth and another guy I hadn't met yet named Paul worked in. He'd been working on Sam's car a little bit in the garage when I'd gotten here, thus the grease stains. I also helped everyone start moving things outside to the backyard, which was rather large and had multiple picnic style tables and lawn chairs, suggesting that they hosted things like this rather often.

Sam was putting the second round of hot dogs on the grill when his phone rang. We all quieted down from our individual conversations as he answered and put it on speaker. "What's up, Paul?"

"Sorry guys, I'm running a bit late. Collin just called me in a panic and asked me to come help him and Brady find his cousin. Apparently she went to the beach today and no one's heard from her since. Her mom and dad are worried about her and no one can get her to answer her phone."

I stifled a giggle and I could see others doing the same, trying not to laugh. My plan was going swimmingly.

"I'm sure she's fine," Sam said with a surprisingly even tone, even managing a mostly straight face. "Why don't you tell them to head on back and if she doesn't show soon, we'll all go out and look for her." Wow, for being, like, the paternal figure in this group, Sam sure could lie his ass off.

"I guess..." he said, not sounding sure.

"Come on over, Paul. Everything will be fine."

Sam hung up his phone and got back to grilling. I fell into giggles and Kim and Embry joined me. Not too long after, a car pulled up, the headlights visible even from the backyard. "That's Brady's car. Go stand behind Embry," Jared whispered, I nodded while grinning. Embry, being the most barrel chested in the group, gladly hid me from sight. I could hear the car doors open and shut quickly.

"Guys, my cousin Sydney has gone missing. She went to the beach and won't answer her phone. We have to go find her."

"It's okay," Kim reassured.

"What do you mean it's okay? Her parents are worried and haven't heard from her all day and we scoured the beach."

"It's okay," Jared echoed, "because we found Sydney at the beach earlier and she's been here for a couple of hours now."

At the moment, Embry stepped aside and I waved, grinning smugly. "Hey Collin, hey Brady... I told you I liked to pull pranks."

Collin, who'd been filled with indignation and worry just a second ago seemed to short circuit at the reveal that this had been a joke. Brady broke into laughter so loud and boisterous he had to double over. After a moment, Collin recovered and just shook his head. "That was messed up, Syd. But... good one. You're diabolical."

"Who's diabolical?" A deep, buttery voice asked from the gate of the backyard. Collin moved aside and I was met with the sight of the most gorgeous man I'd ever seen. He was one of the taller members of the pack with a strong jaw, slightly sallow cheeks, hair as black as night and lightish brown eyes. I felt as if the wind had been knocked out of me the second he laid his eyes on me.

He stared at me for a second, his expression entirely unreadable to me. I vaguely heard someone say, 'oh my god,' but didn't have the faculties about me to question why. After a moment, a small smile curled up the sides of his lips and he sauntered towards me. He held out a hand to me and said, "I'm Paul LaHote. And you are?"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Impressions, First and Otherwise

"Wow, so you're really hot. What's that like?"

* * *

I felt like my head was submerged underwater from the second I heard his name. The other sounds from the party were white noise and I was totally focused on his eyes, which now that he was closer, I realized had deep veins of green in them. I had never felt anything like this before. I simultaneously wanted to run into his arms and hold him close and run the opposite direction and never look back. However, I swallowed both of those supremely weird impulses and took the hand he'd offered to me and pumped it a few times, managing to breathe, "I'm Sydney LeHaye." I'm pretty sure my already pretty intense blush worsened at the sound of my voice. I was being very uncool around this very hot guy and wanted to drop into a grave.

Paul's hand lingered on mine after we finished shaking and he met my eyes evenly with a breathtaking smile. Oh, gosh. He was just so... ugh. He was short circuiting my brain. "It's very nice to meet you, Sydney." He finally let go of my hand, which helped my brain in it's attempt to reboot a bit.

"Nice to meet you too." I was relieved to hear that my voice wasn't nearly as breathy and embarrassing this time.

Other members of the pack, all of which had been oddly quiet during our whole exchange, began to mill about again, resuming conversations. Embry, who had been closest to Paul and myself came and gave Paul a pointed look that I don't think he knew I saw before turning his attention to me. "Well, you guys are being weird, but Sam says that burgers are about done. As the newbie, I suggest you go get your burger before us guys wipe the stash."

I was about to argue that there were supplies for fifty or so burgers for only ten people, but then I had a flashback to Collin and Brady's breakfast plates the day before and promptly shut my mouth and hurried off towards the grill where others were starting to line up. Before I got out of earshot, however, I did hear Embry exclaim a rather tell-tale, "Bro!" which suggested that while I had thought I'd been the very picture of awkward, he hadn't been at his coolest either, and made me feel tons better.

I got my burger from Sam and was given yet another pointed look. I returned the look and raised my eyebrows at him. He just shook his head and chuckled. I doctored my bun and had just barely placed the top bun on my burger before I felt a hand on my arm pulling me away from the rest of the group. I looked over to see Kim was the culprit and she had a silly smile on her face. "Let's go sit with Em over there," she said, motioning towards where Emily had settled down in front of a lit fire pit. It appeared that Sam had already done his husbandly duty and dropped off some burgers for her. I acquiesced and followed Kim to the more remote part of the backyard. We sat down, and Kim glanced around, checking for any of the guys lingering nearby before stage whispering, "Oh. My. God."

I flushed anew and groaned. "I know. That was so embarrassing. I don't even know what just happened."

"It's okay," Emily reassured with a motherly smile. "I was the same when I met Sam and Kim was even more embarrassing with Jared. Care to share, Kim?"

Kim grimaced, but reluctantly said, "I sat next to Jared in class and he caught me doodling my name with his last name." I laughed a little bit, feeling better about my totally lame moment after Kim's admission. Kim then added, "At least Paul was being just as weird with you. Jared was stoic and didn't say anything about it for a month or so."

"He was being weird too?" I asked, feeling somewhat hopeful for I don't know what reason.

There was a chorus of, "Oh yeah," and "So weird," from the other two ladies. The rest of the pressure on my chest from my embarrassment lifted from my chest as we all giggled together. Embry found his way over to us before the other guys did with three burgers on his plate and another plate piled high with french fries and sat down next to me. "What are you hens clucking about?" he asked before chomping into one of his burgers, which, now that he'd picked it up, I realized had two patties. Jeez, these guys could put it away. But, in what I found to be a rather sweet gesture, he picked up some of his fries and put them on my plate. Kim had grabbed me away before I could get any, so I was very appreciative.

I smiled and bumped him with my shoulder. "Thanks, Embry." He returned the smile, but with a mouth full of burger and smeared by grease and bumped me back.

"We weren't talking about much," Kim replied to his question, trying her best to look unsuspecting and innocent.

"So you weren't talking about that totally weird moment between Paul and Sydney and how it's totally normal with impri- impressions. First impressions, that is." The weird slip of the tongue caught my attention, but what made it even more obvious was that as he tripped over the word impression, both of the very congenial women shot him dirty warning glances. No one met my glance for a second as I looked around, silently asking for clarification as to what had just happened.

The weird moment quickly dissipated when I was made aware of someone sitting on my other side by the rustling of fabric and looked over and realized it was Paul. I made conscious effort not to stare this time and quickly diverted my gaze from his gorgeous face to the mountain of food he'd brought with him. I could feel my eyes widen as I saw the two triple stacked burgers with bacon and cheese wedged between every patty and the fries sprinkled with shredded cheese. Incredulity in my voice, I said, "You guys are all going to die of embolisms."

Embry and Paul both chuckled heartily and Paul said, "Don't worry, we work it off."

Others joined us over near the fire pit. Soon, the light from the fire danced on everyone's smiling faces as we laughed, told stories and they even shared a couple of the local legends with me. The cold ones seemed a little far fetched to me, but I'd heard similar stories on other reservations that we'd been to, so I was used to outlandish legends. They didn't go into too much detail, explaining that if I went to a bonfire with the Reservation Elders, which I probably would at some point with dad, that I'd get the full story. I was looking forward to it.

It didn't escape my attention that Kim kept looking between me and Paul with barely contained glee and I wanted to yell at her, "Damn, girl, play it cool!" Because even if by some miracle Paul was acting weird earlier because he thought I was cute, didn't mean much aside from that, and I didn't even know if I was interested beyond looks yet. But the way she was looking at us, I felt like if she had Paul and Sydney dolls, she'd be saying, "Now kiss," and pushing our faces together.

The night wound down and people began to yawn. Emily began to doze off in her chair, her energy apparently wiped by the combination of the night and the fact that she was making two tiny people. Sam stood and scooped her up like she was no heavier than a small dog, rather than a very pregnant woman, and announced, "It's probably time to call it a night. I'm going to go put her in bed and then I'll be out to clean up."

I stood up, brushing down my borrowed clothing to smooth away its wrinkles, and then grabbed my paper plate and headed towards the trash to toss it. When I turned around, I saw Kim whispering to Jared, who just shrugged in return. For some reason, I didn't like that. Something seemed a bit fishy.

When I walked back to the fire pit to grab my bag, she said, "Oh, Sydney, I don't think we can take you home. Our apartment is on the other side of the res from your place and Jared's got an early day tomorrow."

Uh huh. She was up to something alright. Funny how this hadn't come up before. I could believe that Jared had an early day, since he was an EMT, but I feel like it would have come up sooner if this was a legitimate excuse. She was extending an opportunity for me to ask Paul to take me home. What a little sneak. I'd have to get her back for this at some point.

What happened next surprised me, though. "I'll take you home, Sydney." The offer came from Paul himself as he jingled his keys in his hand, which I'm sure had Kim close to squealing with delight.

"O-Okay," I said with a stutter, resisting the urge to flush deep red again. He was really cute, after all. I turned to everyone else who all seemed to be getting ready to take off themselves. "Goodnight. It was great meeting everyone."

There was a chorus of good nights and Paul and I headed off to the driveway which was littered with cars and a few motorcycles. Paul approached one of the trucks, deep forest green, and went to the passenger side, pulling it open for me and offering a hand to help me up. I smiled, feeling somewhat shy at the show of chivalry, but took it none the less and let him help me into the cabin of the truck.

He strode around to his side and slid in easily, his height much more of a match for the height of the truck than mine was. If he hadn't given me the little bit of extra boost, I'd have had to pull myself up and in. Sedan style cars were definitely more my style, but his truck was comfy. The seats were upholstered with a soft fabric and it smelled clean - definitely cleaner than mine. There was a vent clip dispersing a piney scent in the car once the AC started up, giving me a fresh waft, and the floor of his truck wasn't littered with fast food bags and discarded cans and bottles of long finished drinks as mine so often was. There was also a large pinkish brown stain across my back seat from where one of my friends had spilled a milkshake about three years ago. His car had no such stains at a quick glance. Either he was pretty good about maintaining it or it was still pretty new, maybe a combination of both.

There was a short delay between the car turning on and the music coming on in which I realized my mind was completely blank of things to talk about. I hadn't really built a rapport with Paul yet, unlike I sort of had with say, Embry, Seth, Collin or Kim. We hadn't had much of a chance to speak with the night's festivities. And I didn't think, "Wow, so you're really hot. What's that like?" would go over too well.

However, the sound of Linkin Park's "The End" playing over the stereo after he cranked it down to a more manageable level greatly helped me in my search for something to talk about. "You a Linkin Park fan too?" I asked, as he began to back up out of the drive way.

He smiled, glancing at me as he began to turn the wheel to pull out onto the road. "Yeah. Not so much there newer stuff, but I used to be one of their biggest fans."

I noticed, when he turned off Sam and Emily's street, that he hadn't asked which way to go, but he had turned the correct direction anyway, but decided it wasn't important. "Yeah, me either," I agreed. "Y'know, I got to see them live in concert probably seven years ago. It was one of my mom's gifts to me after I was officially adopted." Yeah, as if I'd needed anymore gifts. The fact that they were opening their heart and home to me for the rest of my life was more than gift enough, but I didn't say so, feeling that was too mushy.

"You're adopted?" he asked, sounding curious and drumming his hands against the steering wheel rhythmically in time with the song, soft but still audible.

"Mhmm," I confirmed, forgetting that that fact may not be common knowledge yet. "Coming up on 10 years since I was put with my parents and 8 since my adoption." I hadn't floated around in foster care very long, luckily for me, and once my parents had gotten a hold of me, they had been entirely unwilling to part ways. They'd started the adoption process within months of me being placed with them, but it was a mess with my biological mother being alive and the drug addled mess that she'd always been. More thoughts that I didn't dare share. Explaining to Paul that my bio mom had abandoned me with my father to go shoot heroine was not on my list of to dos at the moment.

"That's cool," Paul said, more in an acknowledging way than anything. "I've lived with my dad most of my life. My parents split when I was a kid and he brought me here."

"Do you still see your mom?" I asked, unable to stop the words from escaping, my mental filter seeming to malfunction as the thought sprung into being and made its way out of my mouth almost in the same instant.

Paul wasn't perturbed, though and he grinned, turning to give me another glance before turning his attention back to the road. "Yeah, I go to Tacoma a few times a year. My half sister, Piper, lives with her, too, so I have to go see her every once in a while. I go to see them on their birthdays, I split the holidays between them and my dad, that sort of thing."

I wondered what that was like, but had the sense not to let another ill thought out question like that slip. He was still practically a stranger, for Pete's sake. I'm sure he didn't want me digging around in his childhood, especially about something that might be sensitive like his parent's divorce.

"I think after tonight, you're officially inducted into the pack." Paul said conversationally as he turned onto my street. I still wasn't sure how he knew this was where I lived, but I supposed, since it was such a smile res, that he'd heard someone was moving into Quileute Heights and just deduced it was us since we were probably the only new arrivals.

"Oh yeah?" I asked, a teasing tone in my voice. "What about those mystic bonfires you all told me about?"

Paul chuckled, pulling to a stop right in front of my house. "I'm sure we can pencil you in for one mystical experience soon." He pulled the keys from the ignition and hopped out of the truck. I'd just pulled off my seat belt and opened the door, standing to hop out myself when he appeared next to me, putting a hand on either of my hips, my own hands grabbing his shoulders instinctively when he lifted me, and plopping me on the ground with so little effort, I might have thought I was weightless. I was stunned by this gesture, not only because I really wasn't expecting it, but because the places where he'd put his hands on my hips tingled as if he'd shocked me.

I looked up at him, both mystified and intrigued, but he only grinned back at me. "Thank you," I settled on, deciding that while it was odd, I hadn't hated being picked up by him. In fact, I kind of wished he'd do it again, but that was too weird to think about right now.

Paul walked me to the door and I turned towards him when we reached it, loathe to go inside. I'd really enjoyed the ride home, the whole evening, in fact, and I wished it had lasted longer. "Good night," I said, fidgeting with my keys nervously.

"Good night," he agreed. Paul turned around as if to leave, but then paused, a thoughtful expression on his face. "Hey, Sydney. How do you feel about laser tag?"

I was taken aback by the question, random as it was, but answered with, "I've never really gotten to play before."

He smiled. "Wear some clothes you can run in tomorrow night. I'll pick you up around 7."

~Forever and Always~

As soon as Sydney disappeared inside her house, that little pleased smile on her face, Paul practically ran back to his truck, grabbing his phone and sending Kim a text that said, "THANK YOU!" in all caps before driving off. Granted, during the bonfire he'd wanted to bury her for being so goddamned obvious, but she had afforded him the opportunity to get some alone time with his imprint, and for that, her accolades were deserved.

 _His imprint_. _His_ imprint. He could hardly wrap his mind around the idea, but he'd felt it when it happened. It was exactly like Sam had described it - everything melted away, and there she was, the center of the universe. Sydney was beautiful, in his completely biased opinion. Her skin was pale but unblemished and her hair hung nearly to her waste in slightly wavy locks, but it was her eyes that took his breath away when he'd first lain eyes on her. They were a deep blue, similar to that of the sky. She was also petite, probably measuring a foot shorter than himself and most of the other guys.

God, he wanted to be with her _now_! He wanted to lay in bed with her all night, holding her to him while they learned everything about each other. He hadn't been able to resist asking her out for the next night, knowing the guys would understand why she was crashing laser tag night, feeling like he would explode if he had to wait any longer than a day to see her again. Hell, he'd barely been able to resist snatching her back from her front door and driving off with her again.

Paul had barely put his truck in park in the parking lot for his apartment complex when he tore off into the woods. He waited till he was well out of sight before stripping and leaving his clothes hanging on a tree branch before phasing.

As expected, he wasn't alone in his head when he phased, even members of Jake's pack stretching their consciousness to link up with the Uley pack for the time being. It required a bit of extra effort for everyone to hear across pack lines, but they'd mastered it over time. Noticing Paul's thoughts joining them, the other voices all swam across his conscious, excited and overlapping, asking questions, making comments, and just overall cheery. The first thought to ring across was Sam, saying, _"Congratulations, Paul."_

 _"You got the coolest imprint ever,"_ Embry gushed. _"I'm kinda jealous."_

Both Sam and Jared made disapproving noises and Paul knew that if Quil were here now, he'd have done the same. Now, he understood. If someone had said that about anyone aside from Sydney, he would have felt similarly. But he knew he had the coolest imprint, so they could all be jealous.

Leah, who Paul hadn't realized was phased, said, _"Wait, what? Paul imprinted? On who?!"_

 _"You know my cousin who just moved to town...?"_ Collin asked, leaving the question open ended for her to pluck the answer from it herself.

 _"Really now?"_ Leah asked, her voice filled with curiosity. _"What's she like?"_

 _"Wonderful,"_ Paul thought before he could stop himself. This response prompted a cacophony of amused thoughts to flit around, but he continued, _"She's a mischief maker. I highly suspect you and she will get along well."_ Leah made a noise of approval and then Paul directed his thoughts towards Jake. _"I invited her to laser tag tomorrow night. Hope no one minds."_

Jake scoffed. _"I'd think something was wrong with you if you didn't invite her. Of course, she's welcome."_

 _"Imprints are pretty much a package deal and we all know it,"_ agreed Brady, but then his tone changed, _"but **I** wasn't invited to laser tag. What gives?"_

 _"We're going late and you and Collin have school,"_ Jared said, sounding almost like a chiding father. If the rolling of eyes could be audible, Paul would have sworn he'd heard it from both of the younger wolves.

Seth, who'd been extremely quiet this whole time and not nearly as excited everyone else, spoke next, asking the question that Paul dreaded with a flat, almost irritated voice. _"So... how are you going to break the news to her?"_

 _"I don't know,"_ Paul said truthfully. _"But I'll figure it out."_


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Lasers and Other Hazards

"Walgreens can suck my dick."

* * *

I was running as fast as my short legs could take me. I'd already been shot a few times and I was not going to allow those boys to make more points off my lifeblood. It wasn't fair, really. They were so much larger than I was but so quiet. Fucking Jake had sniped me from directly above, hanging over the safety wall and pointing downwards, as if he knew I'd be coming into view.

This was a really nice laser tag arena. Paul and the guys had taken me all the way out to Olympia to get here. It was three stories, tons of obstacles, hide-y holes and the arena has a few turrets that scanned around, deactivating players for five seconds if the lasers touched your vest. Right now, we were in free-for-all mode. The guys had purchased all night passes, and we'd already done a few rounds of teams. There were a few other groups at the arena, but the guys had already made one group of frat boys rage quit when they blew them out of the water three games in a row. I had to admit, that had been kind of funny. Watching college age boys whining like babies because they'd been beaten, fair and square, was great.

I ducked behind a pillar as a laser point appeared on the wall in front of me and the tell-tale sounds of electronically synthesized gunfire filled the air. Deciding a little drama was in order, I dove and slid around a corner... and instantly regretted it as my sweat pants rode up and I got a wicked carpet burn on my ankle. I hissed in pain, but got up and ran again.

A staircase came into view, heading down, which was interesting to me, since I was already on the ground floor. I hadn't noticed it before now, but the glowing yellow "WATCH YOUR STEP" announced it now. It was behind a wall, so perhaps it was meant to be hidden. Either way, I dashed down the steps quickly at full throttle and nearly ran smack dab into a wall for my trouble. It wasn't another floor at all, but just another little hiding spot. At the end of the steps, it only went another five feet and then curved into an L shape. I presume one could hide down here and then shoot anyone who tried to do the same.

I heard hard footfalls coming down the stairs that I had just traveled down, and turned around quickly, shooting my pursuer right as they _did_ run into the wall that I myself had only stopped short of. Jared gave a dramatic sigh, his gun falling to his side as he turned to look at me, the run in with the wall seemingly not phasing him much. I guess he'd run out of lives as his vest flashed blue, signaling that he needed to go to the recharge station before he could resume playing. I shrugged in response to his clear exasperation and dashed back up the steps. Before I reached the top, however, I slowed and peered around the wall that hid the staircase to see Seth creeping around. I shot him on his back shoulder pad and then ducked back behind the wall. Except, Jared, upset about having to recharge, pushed me back into the open on his way up the stairs and soon, my own vest was flashing as Seth unloaded multiple shots into me.

"Well, fuck," I said, bummed out, and followed Jared to the recharge station.

Jared hit the recharge station first and was off before my vest resumed its solid red color. There was no shooting in the recharge area, so its not like he could have gotten me anyway, nor I him. I was on my way out when I noticed some movement from above. Most of the ways to the upper floors were simple stairs and ramps, but there was a cargo net one could climb if they so chose to the second floor. It was moving now as someone attempted to shimmy their way down from the second floor. I shot at the glowing lights while they attempted to untangle their gun from the netting.

By the time he hit the ground, Embry was glaring at me, his vest flashing blue. He pointed at me and then dragged his thumb across his throat in clear threat before stalking off to go recharge. I started to giggle, but was cut off when I heard more electric gunfire and my vest started vibrating. I took off and hooked around a post to cut off their line of fire.

A quick peak showed that it was Jake approaching me, his gun still raised. My vest was still blocked by the pole, so I raised my gun and started shooting myself. Jake ducked out of reach pretty readily, attempting to circle around so that my shoulder pads were accessible to him. He was quick, but just as he was able to reach me again, rapid fire had his vest turning blue. He turned to look at his surprise assailant at the same time I did. There was Paul, grinning. Jake flipped him the bird and went towards the recharge station. Paul raised his gun and I thought he was going to shoot me, but his gun tilted a bit to the side and he let off several more shots. I turned and saw one of the other players sigh with his vest flashing blue. I looked back towards Paul and he winked at me before darting off into the course, disappearing in a puff of fog released by a machine.

The round ended not too long after and we all piled back into the "debriefing" room to go over scores. Paul had won the round, having only been killed twice the whole game and having killed eighteen people over the course of the twenty-five minute round. Impressive. I only killed five. The next round was teams and we decided that would be our last one of the night. It was approaching midnight and we had a long drive home in front of us.

The computer divided us up into teams randomly and our vests glowed either blue or red. Me, Embry and Seth all glowed blue while Paul, Jake and Jared all glowed red with a handful of randoms on either side. Me and Embry fist bumped as we were led to opposite ends of the arena to be released. Each side also had a gate that was worth extra points every time it got shot down. One of the randoms volunteered to guard it and so, as soon as the starting bell whistled, we spread out and began the hunt. Embry headed for the second floor while Seth and I stayed on the ground, though we forked into two different directions. Electronic gunfire began shortly thereafter and I knew the game was on. I was hidden behind one of the many walls and was sniping people as they came across through a small hole cut in the wall. No one I recognized, but still, very satisfying as my previous failure in the last round.

I'd just killed another red when I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to see Jake behind me with a sadistic grin at his face. And he had me back against a wall. We quickly began shooting at each other in a rapid fire manner, trying to kill one another before the other kid, but the element of surprise gave him the edge and soon, my vest was flashing.

I stuck my tongue out at him and trekked off to the gate to recharge. When I got there, the guy who had volunteered to be guard was battling it out with Paul, so I recharged quickly and shot him just as the guard died, triggering the flashing of his own vest. Paul pouted at me and put a hand on his chest, as if he were deeply offended. "Sydney, how could you?" he asked in a mock-devastated voice.

I grinned and squeezed off another shot, albeit, a useless one, since his vest was already flashing and said, "Like that."

Paul sighed dramatically and turned to head back towards his own recharge station. I giggled, extremely entertained by his antics and headed off to kill more reds, this time taking to the upper floors. I hadn't spent much time on the third floor this game, so I took off up the second flight of stairs I came across just as quickly as the first. As I hit the top, however, I immediately had to take a step back as a laser point hit the wall directly next to me and the electronic shooting noises filled the air. Someone was sitting at the top of the stairs, killing people as they got to the third floor, I dropped to my knees, crawling with one hand and using the other to hold the gun aloft. Not expecting me to be so low, the person shooting aimed well above my head and I was able to take them out. "Aw, man," the stranger said, dejected as he headed down towards the first floor to recharge.

There wasn't too much going on up on the third floor, with most of the action being centered around shooting down the gates or some sniping positions from the second floor, so I headed back down. Almost immediately, I was accosted by gunfire and the feeling of my vest vibrating. I spun around to see who was firing, but felt the uncomfortable pull in my ankle that signaled that I'd moved too quickly.

I gasped at the discomfort and pain suddenly radiating from my ankle and collapsed as I tried to put my weight on it. I didn't even care about my vest flashing as I reached for the throbbing ankle, poking and prodding it. I felt the beginnings of tears pricking at the corners of my eyes because it _hurt_.

The guy who had been shooting me - not one of the guys - stopped and looked me over before shouting, "Hey, we got an injury in here! Time out!"

It took a moment, but the lights in the arena flashed on, illuminating the once dim laser tag arena. The guy who'd called for the timeout went on a search for one of the arena workers so that they could help me off the floor. I didn't think this kind of thing was uncommon, since the first thing you did when you entered the building was sign a waiver, but that didn't make it suck any less. I held onto my ankle tightly while I waited, the pressure calming down the throbbing just a little.

Seth came around the corner and when he saw me, he immediately became concerned. "Sydney, are you okay?" he asked as he came towards me.

I smiled, though I think it came out as more of a pained grimace. "I think it's just a sprain."

Before I could make any sort of objection, Seth leaned down and wrapped one arm underneath my legs and the other around my waist, hefting me into the air as if I was little more than a feather. The arm closest to him instinctively went around his shoulder to avoid getting crushed between us. I couldn't help but notice how taut his chest was as he carried me towards one of the entrances, nor could I miss the bulge in his biceps. And jeez, he was really warm. I could feel myself heating up just from being so close... or was that a blush?

I didn't have much time to ponder it, though, since the attendants found us. One tried to take me from Seth, but he snapped, "I got her!" before he could take me. I blinked and looked up at him, surprised. The attendant paused, but didn't argue, instead, leading us through the debriefing room and into a little office with a cot.

Seth set me down just as Paul entered the room at a run, clipping his shoulder against the door frame and _cracking it_. He barely even acknowledged the crack he'd put in the frame, instead pushing past Seth to come stand next to me. I thought I saw his hand reach out for mine for a second before he quickly snatched it back, but he moved so fast, I couldn't be sure. I didn't miss the extremely pointed glace that Paul threw at Seth and the hard look Seth gave him back. What the hell was _that_ about? Ugh, boys.

I was distracted by the attendant pulling too hard on my ankle and I hissed in pain, reflexively reaching to protect the ankle from his rough handling, though stopped before I smacked his hand away like I wanted too. Jeez, I had a couple tears leaking out of my eyes and hadn't walked in here under my own power. You'd think that would tip a guy off that it might hurt and he should, oh, I don't know, be a bit gentle. Apparently not. He sighed and pulled off his glasses to wipe them on his shirt. "I don't feel any obvious breaks. It's probably just a sprained ankle, but it could be a fracture if you're unlucky. There's an Urgent Care two blocks away if you want to get it checked out. For safety and liability reasons, though, we have to rescind your play pass for the rest of the night." He cracked a smile. "Not that you'll be missing too much play time."

I cracked my own smile at that. This place shut down at midnight and we were about 20 till. He turned to address Paul and Seth. "If you want, one of you could stay here and keep her company while the rest of the players finish off the last round."

"I'll stay," Paul said, already pulling his vest over his head and handing it off to the attendant. He smiled, though it almost looked like more of a baring of teeth, and it was directed at Seth. "'Sides," he continued congenially, "It'll keep the teams even."

Seth's expression went a touch steelier, but he nodded. He and the attendants left the room and I heard the game resume on the other side of the door shortly after. I blew out a puff of air, ruffling my bangs with the force, and leaned back on the cot. "What's up with you and Seth?"

Paul grabbed the chair the attendant had been using while checking on my ankle and brought it too my side, plopping down next to me. "Ah, nothing," Paul said, waving dismissively as if it hadn't been icy as Siberia in here a moment ago. "He's just pissing me off. I'm sure it will be resolved in a day or two. What about you? How's your ankle?"

"It's throbbing," I answered truthfully, "but I think I'll live."

"Need an amputation?"

I chuckled. "I think I'll try an ice pack first, but if I need a foot removed, I'll be sure to let you know."

"If you say so," he said with mock exasperation. "But losing another foot when you're so short..."

It took me a second to understand what he was getting at but when I did, I turned to glare at him. "That was a terrible joke. It wasn't even a pun."

Paul crossed his arms and leaned back in the chair. "It was so a pun. Puns are word play and I switched around two meanings for foot. Wordplay, pun," he argued.

"It was bad and you should feel bad," I asserted, decisive.

He chuckled, not seeming to feel bad in the slightest. I smiled, not feeling bad either. Aside from the pain in my ankle, I felt pretty hunky dory right now. Paul's presence was so nice. I was already really comfortable with him and he was easy to talk to, despite my brain occasionally short circuiting. And injury not withstanding, I'd had an awesome time tonight. I definitely wanted to come back sometime and I wanted to spend more time with the pack. Truth be told, I also just wanted to spend more time with Paul, but our time alone was coming to a close as I heard the timer go off and the abrupt cut off of the background cacophony of synthesized gunfire. The exit slid open and people began exiting.

I held out my hand to Paul and hadn't even finished asking, "Hey, can you help me up?" before he took it and hoisted me onto my good foot, steadying me when I wobbled. We filed into the debriefing room with everyone else. My team won the last round of the night, and despite the fact that I was grasping his forearm for balance, I turned to stick my tongue out at Paul in a gloating manner. Paul shrugged in an acquiescing fashion, gracious enough not to drop me for being a sore winner.

After everyone had put up their equipment, we all spilled out into the parking lot, laughing, and Paul still helping me hobble around. He'd offered to give me a piggy back ride, but I'd privately decided that if he held me, there was a 50/50 shot of my heart imploding, and so I kindly declined. We all gathered in the space between the vehicles we'd taken - Paul's truck and Jake's Rabbit. The passenger door of Paul's truck was open and he'd picked me up and set me up there so that I didn't have to stand anymore. "So miss, Syd," Jared said, leaning opposite me against Jake's rabbit, "do you think we need to take you anywhere to take care of your ankle?"

I considered the question, peering down at the offending appendage. My foot was bare, my sock and shoe lying discarded on the floor of the truck. I gave my ankle an experimental roll and I swear I've never seen five men's attention focused so intently on a foot. It gave a little twinge, but the already fading pain wasn't severe.

I shrugged. "I think an ice pack and an ace bandage will do the trick."

Embry thrust his finger in the air dramatically. "To CVS!" he announced.

"Why not Walgreens?" I asked.

Embry's head turned towards me in an exaggeratedly slow manner, his eyes narrowed at me. "Walgreens can suck my dick," he said caustically.

"He used to work for Walgreens and hated it," Jake said, by way of explanation.

I rolled my eyes, but turned myself in place to get more fully in my seat. Embry hopped in behind me, closing his door to allow me to close mine. "Walgreens fucking sucks," he muttered, still sounding bitter, causing me to giggle. I was so distracted by Embry's mutterings about Walgreens that I almost missed what happened outside. Almost. We'd come in two groups. Jake and Jared had left slightly later than the rest of us, so they'd taken the Rabbit while the rest of us had gone in Paul's truck. When Seth moved towards the truck, Paul put a hand on his chest, stopping him and giving him a light shove. Paul's back was too me, but I could see Seth's face and his features were clouded over in a storm of emotion. I was worried it was going to break into a fight right then and there, but Seth backed up and headed towards the Rabbit, where, I noticed, Jake had been staring at them just as intently as I had.

Paul hopped in the front seat and I wanted to ask what the hell was going on, but decided to let it go, since his face was already back to it's easy grin. "Let's get you all patched up," he said, practically jovial. "Your parents probably wouldn't appreciate me bringing you back all broken."

We drove to the nearest CVS and bought one of those ice packs you crack to get it to freeze and a bandage to wrap it to my ankle with. Sometime after it was secured, I nodded off in the passenger side. Which was to be expected since when I was jolted awake by the sound of a door shutting next to my ear, the dash clock said it was nearing 3 am. I looked to my left in time to see Embry give a quick wave on the way inside his mom's house. I let my head loll in the other direction to look at Paul. He grinned. "Hey, sleepy head," he said softly.

"Mmmm," I replied, blinking lazily in his direction.

Paul chuckled at my oh-so-articulate response. "Just a few more minutes now, sleepy girl. You'll be in your bed soon."

"Mmmm," I repeated, but sounding more content this time.

I was starting to drift off again when Paul pulled over, barely bringing me back from the brink of unconsciousness. I could tell we were at my house, though couldn't seem to lift my head up enough to even look out the window. Paul got out and came around to my side, scooping me into his arms. It was the second time I'd been carried tonight, but this time I knew for a fact I was blushing. That thought made me remember all the weird stuff with Seth from earlier

My hazy mind lost its filter and I groaned, "Why are you and Seth being such dicks to each other?"

I thought Paul sounded amused when he said, "Dicks, huh?" but he became more serious when he continued with, "I don't know. He's rubbing me the wrong way with how he'd been acting around you and I've always had sort of a short temper."

"He's nice to me," I said, halfheartedly defending Seth in my sleepy state.

It might have been my imagination, since I was still half unconscious, but I thought I heard him say, "Yeah, that's part of the problem." However, I before I could question him, he stopped and a quick peak revealed we were at my front door. "You think you can make it inside on your own?" he asked, raising an eyebrow like he doubted it himself. I nodded and he set me down very gently, making sure to maneuver me so that my good foot hit the ground first.

I fished out my keys, unlocking the front door on auto pilot. I looked at Paul, ready to bid him goodnight when I caught sight of how the moonlight highlighted his cheekbones, making him look like a bronzed elf. My filter abandoned my sleepy brain yet again. "You're really good looking, did'ya know that?"

Paul just blinked obviously surprised. His mouth opened and closed a couple times, fishing for a response before he seemed to settle on, "Thank you, Sydney."

I nodded blearily. "Goodnight, Paul."

"Goodnight... beautiful."

I heard him, but didn't register the compliment before I'd stripped down and fallen into bed. By the next morning, I didn't recall how I'd gotten home at all.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: This one starts in Paul's POV. I'm sorry if it's confusing, but I feel writing character POV at every change looks so very tacky.**

Chapter 5: Incommunicado

 _"I spent the last week feeling abandoned by all my new friends and I didn't know why."_

* * *

 _3 Weeks Later_

 _I'm a chicken shit_ , I decided as I closed the door of my truck after dropping Sydney off again. I meant to try for the good night kiss tonight, but the sight of her mom peeking out the window had been enough to stop me in my tracks. It might have been my paranoia, but I could swear Missy looked knowing, and the fact that she might know I liked Sydney before Sydney did was a little weird for me. Even if the imprint weren't common knowledge for the pack by this point, I was pretty sure anyone paying attention could see I was totally smitten with Sydney. It was obvious.

Just not to Sydney.

Short of presenting her with my class ring, which I never got because I didn't believe in that hoo-rah school spirit crap, and asking her to go steady - as if that were a normal thing to do in this day in age - I didn't know what to do to make things more clear to her. I wasn't super comfortable with emotion and every "relationship" before Sydney came along - if those dalliances even qualified - were so casual, I hadn't really had to make an effort. Sydney was different, and if I were totally honest, just a little dense, too.

I wasn't sure how she was justifying my behavior to herself if she didn't at least suspect my attraction to her. I sent her good morning and goodnight texts, found every excuse in the book to be the one to both pick her up and drive her home from pack events, even though, in reality, she live closest to Embry. I arranged most of my days so that I could see her at some point, and on days when it turned out not to be feasible, I texted her as often as I could. Aside from an occasional blush when she looked my way or I gave her a compliment, I had no idea what was going on in her head.

Seth was still bugging me, too. I'd nearly lost it and broken his nose when I'd stopped by work to talk to Jake about a discrepancy in my last paycheck and saw that Sydney was keeping him company while he was working on a custom paint job. They were talking about drawing techniques and she was flipping through his sketchbook and oohing over it.

I wasn't sure what Seth's deal was and I hadn't been able to ask him about it. It was almost like he was pursuing her too, but that couldn't be right, could it? He knew Sydney was my imprint. What was he doing?

Ever since the night at the laser tag arena, he'd conveniently never been alone with me and I hadn't once been able to catch his thoughts over the pack link, even when I stretched my mind to reach Jake's pack. Mostly, I saw him when he was hanging around Sydney, and of course she noticed my reaction to _that_ , so I had to keep my cool. Good grief, imprinting on this girl was going to be the end of my sanity.

I sighed deeply and turned turned my key in the ignition. And instantly froze. The sickly sweet smell of leech filled my car through the vents, and it was strong - close. Violating the treaty close.

Not wanting to alert Sydney or her family that anything might be amiss, I reluctantly drove a few blocks away and parked my truck in a dead end before hiding my keys in the bed and running to the nearby treeline, barely managing to pull my shorts and shirt off before I phased. I left them strewn across the forest floor, rather than hung up in a tree somewhere like I normally would. I bounded across the floor, scenting out the disgusting leech and becoming angrier and more upset as the smell got stronger the closer I got to being back at Sydney's house. I was practically in her backyard when the trail turned, leading away from her house and back towards the border. The idea that a vampire had been that close to her house, to her, enraged me beyond words. And it hadn't been that long ago, otherwise I would have smelled it when I dropped her off.

I began following the scent trail that was heading towards the border when I was aware of another set of thoughts that weren't my own - Brady, the pack member who'd been assigned to be on patrol tonight. _"Brady,"_ I thought urgently, _"phase back and call everyone. There's a leech."_

 _"Where!?"_ Brady demanded.

 _"It was at Sydney's,"_ I ground out, trying not to loose my temper. It had been forever since a vamp had crossed into the rez. It was no wonder he wanted to know where it was. _"Hurry."_

Brady's thoughts dissipated as he un-phased and I redoubled my tracking of the stinking vamp. There's no way I was going to let him get that close to my Sydney again. No way. Soon, the others joined me, each phasing one by one till we were all on the move. Sam and Collin stayed behind to guard the border. Sam couldn't go too far with Emily being as pregnant as she was, and I understood. I didn't want to leave Sydney now, but I couldn't imagine it if she were carrying my baby. I was determined to keep her safe, and with her in my thoughts, I ran as fast as I could, despising every whiff and bloodsucker I breathed in.

* * *

 _1 Week Later_

I looked at my phone, curious. It was... suspiciously quiet. Since I'd moved to the reservation almost a month ago, I'd gotten more texts and calls than I ever had. Mom and dad were delighted, since I hadn't really made friends in the last few places we'd lived and I'd been out almost every day since we moved here with at least one member of the pack. At least, until a few days ago.

Claire, who I'd met a few days after we moved here when she and her boyfriend Quil returned from Montana, and Kim had taken me shopping. Having lived in Oklahoma, I was no where near prepared for a Washington fall or winter. I'd gone over to Sam and Emily's a few times to help them paint the mural in the nursery. It was a forest landscape, which was weird to me, since when they were a little bit older, they could just peer out their window and see the real thing, but regardless. Seth and I worked on it together and decided to add some magical elements, like a unicorn and a phoenix hiding in the brush. We also went for more of a cartoonish look than realism. It turned out beautifully. Seth also had me come to the shop while he was working on a particularly intricate paint job and showed me his sketches. He was better than me and I'd loved hearing about how he developed his skills.

Embry and I had become fast friends, too. When we went to the beach the week before the last vestiges of warmth left La Push, he'd pushed me off a cliff, literally. I could only give him mad props for that... and drop a small handful of fruit chunks down the back of his swim trunks later in revenge.

The person who I'd spent the most time with, though, was Paul. I'd finally gotten my car back last week, but he still always picked me up for things. He said he really liked driving so I didn't mind if he wanted to be my personal chauffeur. Plus, I wasn't about to argue about spending time with Paul. The last few weeks had only served to cement my crush on him and I was starting to feel like he might like me a little bit too. Though the sudden radio silence made me feel like he might be ghosting me now. I hoped not, but not having any of my calls returned by any pack members was starting to worry me.

I decided to try one more time, dialing Embry, and putting the phone up to my ear. The ringing sound immediately cut off, rattling off Embry's chipper, "This is Embry Call, I'll _Call_ you back," and the little chuckle afterwards before the automated voice told me to leave a message at the tone. I sighed and hung up. The phone had to be off in order for it to go to voicemail so quickly so he couldn't be screening my calls... unless he'd blocked my number. But why?

I decided to head to his house. It was only a 15 minute walk or so, closer than any of the other pack members, and I was going to get to the bottom of this. A week without so much as a text and no explanation was ridiculous.

I grabbed my iPod and shoved a bud in my ear and slid both my phone and iPod into the pockets of my jacket. It wasn't too cold today, but there was a nice wind, so the hoodie was necessary. I zipped it up and headed towards the door. As I hit the top of the stairs, I saw my mom in the room across the hall from me, painting the walls and bopping to whatever was playing. She was thrilled. My parents had just completed their homestudy to get started on another adoption. She'd probably repaint it two more times before a child was even placed with us, but it made her happy. Her dance happened to point her in my direction as I was about to descend the steps and she waved at me. I smiled and waved back at her, calling out, "I'll be back later." She gave me a thumbs up and turned back to the wall with her roller.

The immediate gust of wind that hit me as soon as I opened the door made me put up my hood and stick my hands in my pockets. Good golly, it was chilly. It hardly ever got this chilly in Oklahoma. And it was only late September.

The walk went by quicker than I expected and soon, I was in front of Embry's house. His green hatchback sat in the driveway, covered in a thin coat of grime, next to his mother's silver sedan. I walked up to the front door of the single wide and rang the bell. I expected Embry to answer and was already ready to give him a dressing down, but the angry words died on my lips when Tiffany opened the door and gave me a bright smile. "Oh, hi, Sydney!"

Tiffany was beautiful and looked way too petite to have birthed Embry, who was well over a foot taller than his mother. She was also young, having been fresh out of high school when Embry was born. "Hi, Tiffany," I said, glancing over her shoulder to see if I could catch sight of Embry behind her, but the hall that led to his bedroom was empty. "Is Embry here?"

"No, sweetie, he's not, but I can tell him you came by," she said, and she was either an incredibly good liar, or she was telling the truth.

I wanted to scream, but simply nodded. "Yeah, okay."

"Do you want to come inside? I baked some brownies for my friend's birthday at work tomorrow, but I always make some extra for Embry - you know how those boys eat."

A brownie did sound good, but a dark cloud had just descended over my head so I was certain that I would be terrible company right now. "No, thanks, Tiffany," I said with a slight sigh that I couldn't hold back. "Just tell Embry to call me when he gets home."

Tiffany nodded. "Sure, sweetie. See ya soon."

I popped my ear buds back in my ears and changed my music to something with a little bit more angst to it. I figured that would be better than just screaming at the sky like a loon. I didn't think Tiffany had lied to me, but the fact that he wasn't home and his car was said he was probably doing something with the pack - something I'd been excluded from. And no one was talking to me. And I thought I made some really good friends.

I didn't want to go home yet. If I did, I'd just wallow in depression. Better to walk off some of my hurt before I went home, so I turned the opposite direction from my house when I hit the main road and kept walking.

I felt... really bad. It was one thing to not have friends just because you hadn't really connected with anyone - it was another entirely for people you had connected with to just suddenly stop speaking to you with no explanation. As if mirroring my mood, it began to drizzle. Not a big shock, since all of west Washington was pretty moist, but still, it didn't help how I was feeling. However, I was worried for my electronics, so I wrapped up my headphones and stuck them in my pocket. I was just about to turn around and head home to get out of the rain when I heard a weird noise.

Pausing, I perked my ears up and listened closer. It came again, sounding like a deep wail, mixed with the word, "Help." I momentarily put my foul mood on the back burner, heading towards where I thought I heard the noise coming again. The wailing came back again, deep and weird sounding - almost a howl - and this time, I definitely heard the words, "Help me!"

I picked up the pace, jogging towards the direction of the noise, and I slowed when I saw the lump on the side of the road and my breath caught, and the, _"Oh, no,"_ that ran through my head was twofold. One, the lump on the side of the road had clearly been hit by a car, and two, the voice calling out for help was not that of a human, but of a dog, and I was still a huge freak who could understand animals. Again, though, my feelings had to hit the back burner, because the safety of the animal on the side of the road was way more important.

The dog whimpered as I approached, trying to stand, but it's back legs failed, and were torn up where the car had hit him. "Shhh," I soothed, putting my hand out to the dog for him to sniff. "It's okay, buddy," I cooed to the poor animal, "I'm here to help."

He let out another pathetic whine. "Heeeelp."

"I'm going to help," I reassured, and pulled out my cell phone. I tried calling my parents first, but both their phones went to voicemail after a few rings. Dad must still be at work, and mom probably couldn't hear her cell over the music she was playing. After that, hoping against hope, I began dialing pack member numbers. One by one, they all sent me to voicemail. I groaned in frustration, sending out texts to everyone, telling them roughly where I was. I was just about to try and make another round of calls when my phone abruptly cut out and powered off. The rain had killed it.

I had a few options, I realized. I couldn't make anymore calls, so if I wanted to try for help, I'd have to walk for it, and I wasn't sure how long that would take. I didn't feel like I could move him very far from the road and I was scared that if I left him where he was, he'd get hit again if a car was riding the shoulder. I decided to stay here and try to wave down a car.

The dog was looking at me with intelligent chocolate eyes and whined pitifully. "It hurts."

I stroked his neck gently, doing my best to comfort him. "I know it hurts buddy. Just ride it out. I'm going to get you fixed up."

He was a pretty dog. He looked like he might be a husky/golden mix, since he was primarily white, but had large expanses of mellow gold over his back and a little bit of the same lightly toasted shade around his muzzle and pointed ears. I was trying to focus on his upper half, because his back legs were splayed in an unnatural position with large chunks of fur missing. One of his feet looked entirely disjointed from his ankle and I was certain that it was broken.

"I want my family," the dog continued, sounding pitiful.

Hoping to distract him, I picked up on that thread and asked, "What's your family like?"

The dog turned to meet my eyes sharply, apparently just now realizing that I wasn't just murmuring placating things but that I was actually responding directly to him. "You understand me?" he asked, disbelief clear.

I nodded, continuing to pet him gently. "Yeah. I can understand you - well, I can understand all animals." At his continued look of confusion, I sighed and launched into the quick explanation. "About two years ago, I fell off my surf board and went head first into a rocky crag. I passed out immediately and nearly drowned, but I was fished out of the water and revived. I was out for a few days, and when I came around, I could suddenly hear animals voices in my head." The dog didn't respond, but he winced and whined again. I scratched behind his ear and prompted him again, "So what's your family like?"

"I've been with my people since I was a puppy," he said, the voice I was hearing coming out still strained in pain, but a little warmer. "Molly and James adopted me a long time ago and named me Sol. Molly likes me to rest my head on her lap when she reads and James takes me running with him almost every day. And they had a little boy a few years after they adopted me named George, or Georgie, as Molly likes to call him, and he always sneaks me little pieces of chicken and throws balls for me out in the yard."

I smiled at the fondness that was present in his voice as he spoke of his family. I saw a set of lights coming down the road and I leaned down and said, "I'll be right back." I jumped up and ran into the road, waving my arms like a mad woman. "I need help!" I yelled. The green truck slowed, its tires skidding in the rain and it came to a stop.

My heart stopped in my chest when Paul stepped out of the truck.

He was soaked with water, his short hair plastered to his forehead. I felt like my eyes were the size of saucers and I was frozen into place now, mind going blank. "Sydney!" he exclaimed, closing the short distance between us faster than I believed possible. He wrapped me in a hug, encasing me in his warmth. I couldn't return the hug. I couldn't move, and not just because of his tight squeeze. And then the hug ended and he was holding me at arms length. "What are you thinking, running into the road like that!? I've been trying to call you back!"

"My phone died in the rain," I said, the gears in my brain still struggling to get moving again. And then, they snapped back into their normal whir and I looked at him and jerked hard enough to get out of his grasp. "And you're one to fucking talk about not answering calls. I haven't heard from any of you jerks in a week!"

His mouth fell open, ready to argue, and then snapped shut, a muscle in his jaw twitching in response. "There were extenuating circumstances."

I couldn't even think of what to say to him, that was such a piss poor excuse. "You know what," I said, deciding this wasn't the time to hash things out. "It doesn't matter. I called because this dog got hit by a car and I need some way to get him medical attention and get in contact with his owners. That's it."

"Sydney-"

"That's. It." I reiterated, turning back to head towards Sol. "Now help me get him in the back seat of your truck or leave."

Paul made a sound of frustration that sounded like a growl, but he appeared by my side a moment later. Together, we hefted Sol up and carried him to the truck. He yowled the whole way, since the trip required jostling his legs, but quieted down when we laid him on a towel in the backseat. Wordlessly, I jumped in the passenger seat and began stripping off my soaked hoodie. He jumped in the driver seat and turned around, heading back into La Push.

I was very careful to not look in his direction. My anger was justified and I didn't want it to diffuse just because he was sitting there, looking all sexy and rain soaked. I deserved an apology and I was not about to let my crush on Paul dissuade me from it.

He didn't try to say anything to me either, which I was part grateful for and part irritated by. Grateful, because if he lured me into conversation, I might lose my grip on my hot, molten anger, and irritated because I'd spent this last week _missing him_ , and now he didn't seem to have a thing to say to me, except that running into the road was stupid. Ugh. A lump rose in my throat at the fresh wave of hurt and anger that hit me at that thought.

Paul's phone rang, and he answered. "Hello?... Yes, Missy, I've got her. I'm taking her and the dog she found to the vet... Yeah, she was fine, just really wet... I'll give her the clothes you gave me when we get to the vet's office." That piqued my interest, but I did my best to keep focusing on the scenery of the forest while still listening intently. "Yeah, I think so... Okay, bye bye." He hung up, sliding his phone back into his pocket. "Your mom says she loves you"

"When did she give you clothes for me?" I asked in a clipped voice.

"I hadn't gotten your messages yet and I went by your house to pick you up for a pack dinner. When your mom said you'd been gone for a while, she went and checked her phone and I checked mine and saw the text and the voicemail. I volunteered to go pick you up and help you with the dog, so she gave me a little bag with dry clothes in it." He jerked his head back to indicate the space behind my chair. I turned back, and sure enough, there was a little blue tote.

The idea that he was coming to get me for a pack event softened my anger a little bit, but I wasn't ready to let it burn out entirely. There was still a week of total silence to account for. But I was starting to weaken because his truck smelled like him and I liked the sound of his voice...

He pulled into the veterinary office parking lot, and I noticed that the lights were on. "I called Jared and told him to have Kim call her parents - they own this place," he said, by way of explanation. It wasn't extremely late by any means, but I'd walked father out of La Push than I thought, and it was past 7. An older gentleman in a bright yellow rain coat came out with an umbrella and jogged towards us. He looked like he might be in his late 40's or so. "Good evening, Mr. Knight," Paul greeted the older man with a quick handshake. "Thanks for staying open late for us."

Mr. Knight had a really friendly smile. "No problem, Paul. Now, what have you got for us?" Paul opened up the back door, revealing Sol. Mr. Knight handed me the umbrella and moved forward, boosting himself into the truck a little bit so that he could see his hind legs. "Oooh," he hissed, sounding sympathetic. "Yeah, okay, we have to get him inside and start setting those legs."

With Paul's help, the two men carried Sol into the clinic while I held the umbrella and opened the door for them. Two women were inside, waiting, one in her 40's, much like Mr. Knight, and one who was probably just a little bit older than Paul. Paul and Mr. Knight took Sol back behind the counter, and the younger woman followed. I paused, not sure whether or not I should follow, and the older woman gave me a smile. "You must be the Sydney we've all heard so much about. I'm Alisa Knight."

She held out a hand to me and I took it with an unsure smile. Alisa was gorgeous and easily could have passed as a model with how tall and slender she was. Her hair fell in gentle waves that made me acutely aware of the fact that my already lank hair was plastered to my face by the rain, making me feel like a drowned rat. "Nice to meet you."

"Ally, baby," Mr. Knight's voice rang from down the hall. "I'm going to need your help."

Mrs. Knight gave me a look like, "What can you do?" and then headed back towards where her husband was calling from. I pushed my wet hair out of my face and sighed deeply. Now that Sol was here, at the clinic, I wasn't sure what else to do.

Paul emerged from the back. In my former anger, I hadn't realized that Paul looked like he hadn't slept in days. His eyes were red and bloodshot and the bags under his eyes were more like dark purple bruises. I felt myself softening further, knowing that he'd come for me, despite his obvious exhaustion. I still wanted an apology, but I guess "extenuating circumstances," wasn't as terrible of an excuse as I'd thought. "They're going to take care of him. Are you ready to go?"

I was about to say yes, when I spotted the younger woman coming out of the back room, scribbling something on a clipboard. "Just one sec," I said. I went up to the counter. "Excuse me," I said, catching her attention, "I don't know if he was chipped or not, but his owners names are James and Molly, and his name is Sol."

"Oh, those are the Johnsons," she said. "Well, I'll check for the chip, but thank you for that info just in case."

I smiled, relieved to know that they knew who his family was and he'd be reunited with his people soon. "Great, thanks." She nodded and disappeared again. I turned and joined Paul at the front door. A strange look had come over his face, but I ignored it and said, "Okay, I'm ready!"

Paul nodded absently, and opened the door for me. The rain had let up, so we walked back to the truck at an easier pace. I could feel his eyes on me as we walked. Per his usual, he opened the truck door for me and helped me in, but he looked distracted. And when he came around to his side, he put his key in the ignition and started the truck, but he didn't back up right away, rather, he cranked the radio down to silent and then turned to stare at me with hard, unwavering eyes. This time, I met his stare. "Sydney," he said slowly, "how did you know the dog's owners names?"

 _"Oh, fuck,"_ I thought. No matter how mad I was at Paul, I didn't want him to think I was a freak. There was no way I could tell him I could speak with animals. I thought fast, grasping at something to explain my knowledge of th. "He had a collar, it was a couple feet away on the side of the road," I lied.

Paul's stare turned into a frown. "I helped you grab the dog. There was no collar."

I feigned an indignant look. "Yes, there was."

"No, there wasn't, and if there was, why didn't you grab it?"

"I wasn't thinking about it at the time," I said, and even I could tell that it wasn't very convincing.

Now Paul was starting to look a bit angry. "You're a shit liar."

"Yeah," I shot back, feeling a bit of my own anger rear again in response. "Well, I don't know what you think you've done to earn the truth from me."

"Sydney," he sighed, dragging his hand over his face.

"No," I said, both not wanting to hear his explanation and in response to my own feelings as I felt my anger start to turn on me a little bit, and become a volatile mix of hurt. "I spent the last week feeling abandoned by all my new friends and I didn't know why." I was horrified to hear my voice break on those last two words, and I held my eyes open, trying to keep the tears at bay because I was _not_ going to fucking cry.

Before I could do anything to stop him, Paul was hugging me. "I'm sorry," he said, stroking my hair gently. "I didn't mean for you to feel abandoned. There are things I need to tell you - things about me - but I don't know if it's the right time... I don't want to scare you away."

The admission surprised me. Paul sounded so sincere and so tired... and I believed him. I pulled back to look him in the eyes. "I'm not going anywhere. Whatever it is, you can tell me. And to prove that you can trust me, I'll place the same trust in you." I took a deep breath and blew it out. I thought that the "rip the bandage off" approach would be best, so I blurted, "I knew the names of his owners because he told me. I can talk to animals."

Paul stared at me for a long beat, and I was afraid he was going to call me crazy or laugh at me, but he brought a hand to cup either side of my face and broke into a smile. "Syndey, that's _amazing_."

I felt tears spring to my eyes again, though, this time, they were happy tears. "Yeah?"

"Absolutely. I knew you were incredible from the moment we met. This is just proof positive."

"You think I'm incredible?" I asked, feeling the flush coming over my face in a wave of heat.

One of his hands moved to brush my sodden hair from my face while the other stayed cupping my cheek, but his smile softened to something sweeter. "I don't think; I know. You are incredible." Softly, the hand that was holding my cheek shifted back, cradling my neck and slightly angling my head back. My heart hammered in my chest as slowly, he leaned in, giving me plenty of time to turn away or pull back. But I didn't. I stayed very still, afraid he would change his mind if I so much as twitched, and let my eyes flutter shut. He kissed me very gently, his lips warm and soft. His lips lingered on mine, but he didn't deepen it. I wanted him to, but he pulled back, and rested his forehead against mine. "I've wanted to do that for a very long time," he admitted, sounding just a touch breathless.

I giggled a little. "Me too."

His mouth curved into a smile I might even call a little smug. "Good." Then his smile faltered a little and he pulled away from me. "I really appreciate your honesty, Sydney, and I want to be honest with you too. But my secret... it's big. And I think there's a better time for me to tell you - a better way." His expression begged my understanding. "Please... do you think you could wait just a little while longer so that I can do it right?"

My eyes searched his and I only found sincerity in their deep hazel depths, so I sighed. "Okay. I can wait a little while longer, as long as you promise to tell me soon."

Paul broke into a luminous smile and swiped an 'x' shape over his chest; "Cross my heart." I couldn't help but chuckle at his exuberance, and he leaned in and gave me another chaste kiss that made my heart skip a beat. "Alright, let's go!" he said, finally putting the car in reverse and backing away from the clinic before shifting gears again and heading towards the parking lot exit.

"Where are we going?" I asked, as I realized that he wasn't turning towards my house.

"I told you, there's a pack dinner tonight! Everyone is waiting for us."


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait. My personal life has been all kinds of messy. I had a loved one go to jail, I had to move back in with my mom and I had roommate issues when I was moving, so... yeah, exciting. On with the story!**

Chapter 6: Oh, Baby

 _"Y'know, I'm feeling very attacked right now."_

* * *

Paul pulled into Sam and Emily's driveway, which I noticed was full of cars. Once he put the truck in park, he turned to me. "So, before we go inside, let's clear something up. The reason they haven't been talking to you is because of that... _thing_ we discussed, so please don't be mad at them."

I sighed, but nodded in agreement. I'd agreed to be patient in finding out whatever Paul's secret was, which meant I needed to forgive indiscretions that happened because of his secret. God, I hoped he wasn't a Russian sleeper spy or something equally as bad. It would be just my luck to fall for someone who could be indicted for treason. "Yeah, okay, I won't bring it up. Honestly, I'm just really glad to be back here."

We got out of the truck and Paul grabbed my hand, giving it an affirming squeeze as we walked towards the house. I blushed a bit, but couldn't contain my grin at the outward showing of affection. Okay, sue me. It was all so new and exciting. Paul _did_ like me. I could squeal for days about the kiss we shared in the truck alone, let alone his whole "incredible" compliment. He made me feel incredible and he was incredible and he was holding my hand!

My internal squealing was halted at the sound of yelling coming from the house. Paul and I looked at each other with raised eyebrows and a frustrated shriek made him sigh. "Leah."

We were on the top step of the porch when Leah's voice rang through, loud and clear. "Sam, move your giant fucking ass." Sam's voice filtered through the door, but not as distinctively and I couldn't hear what he said through the door - only that he used a placating tone and was obviously trying to soothe Leah's temper. Leah made a sound of disbelief. "I don't think they're going to show. She was probably fucking pissed and made him take her home after they took care of the dog. Now let me go!"

Paul rolled his eyes and opened the door, revealing Sam's back. Sam whirled instantly at the door opening, and moved out of the way so that Paul and I were revealed to the very full room, in all of our hand-holding glory. Leah's rage melted as she took us in and went from surprised to shocked to a shit eating grin in the blink of an eye. She straightened, and in a very Leah fashion, cocked her hip and gave us a sinful smile. "I guess I was wrong and all is forgiven, huh, Syd?"

My face flamed and I almost yanked my hand from Paul's... except he didn't let it go. He strengthened his grip ever so lightly and brushed his thumb over the back of my hand. I looked over at him curiously and he just gave me a reassuring smile.

I didn't know how to handle this. I hadn't had a boyfriend since my sophomore year of high school, and boy, that had ended badly. We'd broken up on the last day of school because I was going to New Mexico with my parents and he was going off to Penn state. After we had broken up, he'd gotten a little weird and possessive, constantly emailing me, messaging me, texting me, calling me and he even called my parents a few times after I blocked his number. My parents had wanted to file a restraining order against him, but I'd refused. I deleted all semblance of information about my whereabouts from my Facebook, figuring that he could make as many profiles as I could block. I'd also been screening calls - any number that I didn't know, was unknown or was someone I thought might call me on Cade's behalf wasn't answered and would only be responded to once I was sure he wasn't involved. It had worked. One day, he just... stopped. I hadn't heard from him in over two years now. Still, the memory of my first relationship going so awry and my own inexperience made me bashful.

Paul's presence helped, though. The warmth that radiated off him was like a halo of comfort and affection and just all around good vibes. With him by my side, I would be able to navigate these waters. Even if I sometimes wanted to jump off the boat in the process.

I knew Paul wasn't like, Cade though. I knew that without even thinking about it. If I ever decided to end things, I knew he'd respect my decision; knew he'd bow out and continue being there for me as my friend. But, somehow, I didn't see that happening. It was early yet, but I knew on an innate and deep level that Paul's ultimate goal was my happiness and safety and that I wanted to do the same for him. It was a nice feeling.

Emily stood - not without a boost from Kim, who was seated next to her - and waddled towards me with one hand supporting her back. In the weeks that had gone by, it seemed like her belly had gotten even bigger. She held her arms out for a hug. "Oh, Sydney," she said as I leaned over her belly to wrap my arms around the very pregnant woman. "I'm sorry for not returning your calls. I feel so awful-"

"Shh," I cut her off, hearing the slight warble in her voice that suggested she was on her way to some hormone-induced crying. "It's no big deal. Paul explained."

At those words, the whole room froze. Emily stiffened in my arms and slowly pulled back to look in my eyes, and then at Paul. "Explained?" she asked, and I wasn't sure if she was asking me or him. " _Explained_ explained?"

At this, Paul gave a slight shake of the head. "Not everything."

I really hated this. The curiosity burned inside me. I wanted to scream, "of for goodness sake, just freaking tell me," but I thought that might come off like a preschooler throwing a tantrum. Yes, I'd agreed to be patient. No, that did not mean I was not still dying to know. And I felt like my face was being rubbed in that fact that there was apparently this huge secret with my maybe-boyfriend and I was the only one out of the loop. Was there steam coming off my head? I wouldn't be surprised if my inner turmoil was actually producing steam. I sighed. "He explained enough that all you fools are off the hook."

"Good enough for me," Embry's voice said as arms wrapped around me from behind and squeezed and a chin plopped itself down on the crown of my head. "Hey, Syd."

The others all followed his lead and soon I was enveloped in an absolutely giant group hug. All my frustration melted away as I was embraced by my friends and I smiled, feeling happier than I'd been in days. After a minute, I fake gasped and said, "Choking, can't breath... loosing oxygen." And the whole group rumbled with a collective chuckle as we all broke apart.

Well, not everyone was happy. I noticed that as the pack settled in and spread out around the house, Seth had a deep frown on his face. He looked about as ragged as Paul did and I realized everyone looked varying degrees of tired. Claire began wilting onto Quil's shoulder as they sat on the couch together, watching TV. Kim sat on the floor in front of the couch with Jared's head in her lap and he had deep circles under his eyes. Jake let out a yawn as he spoke with Collin and Brady, who looked a bit disheveled themselves. By far, though, Paul and Seth looked the worst. At least Paul was smiling, though. Seth's mouth was set in a deep frown and it made him look about forty, rather than the nineteen he was.

I watched as he approached Sam, frown still deeply set in his face and said something quietly to him. I couldn't even try to read either of their lips, as their backs were to me, not that I thought I would have any success at reading their lips anyway. Sam gave Seth an odd look, but nodded, and then Seth approached Jake and they had a similar encounter. I think I was the only one who noticed as Seth slowly made his way to the back door and walked out without any explanation.

Before I could ask where Seth was going, Emily clinked her teaspoon against her glass, calling everyone's attention to her. "I think, in light of how late it is and how busy everyone's been, we're due for a pack sleepover! All in favor, say 'aye!'"

"Aye!" came the response from the room at large, with mine being just a fraction behind, having been caught unawares.

Her smile, though lopsided because of her scarring, was beautiful. "Excellent. Sam, the jar, please?" Sam obliged, getting up and pulling a mason jar out of the cupboard and handing it to his wife and she stuck a hand inside and began rooting around.

I leaned over to Paul. "What's this?"

He chuckled and leaned closer. "It's a small house and we had to come up with a fair way to divide up the more comfortable sleeping arrangements." And then he surprised me by pressing a kiss to my left temple.

Emily picked one of the names up and unfurled it. "And the winner of the guest room is... Kim! And Jared by default." Emily rolled her eyes, tossing the piece of paper onto the table. Kim cheered and grabbed Jared's hand, pulling him towards the back of the house where the guest room was. Emily picked another name and unfurled it. "The winner of the recliner is... Paul!" Paul fist pumped, but, I noticed, didn't move to take his place on the recliner just yet. "The lonely love seat goes to... Jake and last but not least, the pullout couch goes to... Sydney!"

There were groans from the others as I blinked in surprise. They'd added my name? For some reason, that gesture made a little lump rocket up into my throat and I felt their acceptance on a whole new level. My eyes even started to well up, but I made sure to squash that quickly. No way I was going to cry over being given the pull-out couch.

Sam helped me pull the bed out of the couch and then went and retrieved a couple pillows from the closet in the same blue and white gingham pattern that was on the sheets. "Yo, Syd," Embry said, bringing my attention to him. He was standing at the corner of the bed, a mischievous look on his face. "You know... that bed has enough space for two..." He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Paul had already set himself up in the recliner, but at that comment, pushed the foot rest down so quick that the mechanisms in the chair gave a sharp groan and the chair smacked roughly into the floor as it returned to the sitting position. "You wanna run that by me again?" Paul said, a weird and even sort of menacing undercurrent in his voice. Automatically, I moved closer to him and rested a hand on his arm. He'd been white-knuckling the arm of the chair, but his grip eased with my touch and I was secretly pleased.

Embry was unfazed. "Dude, I just don't want to sleep on the floor."

"Well..." I hedged.

Paul looked at me absolutely bewildered. "Really?" he asked, a hint of betrayal in his voice.

I wanted to roll my eyes, but knew it would give me away. "I do feel bad keeping this whole thing to myself. I should probably share..."

Embry grinned and bounced down next to me on the pullout. "Haha, you're the best, Syd," he chuckled, sounding triumphant. Which is probably why it was so easy to give him the hardest push I could manage and send him sprawling onto the floor - he figured he'd already won and hadn't been ready for a sneak attack. It took Embry a moment to recover, but then he looked up at me. "Dude, what the hell?"

Paul began to roar with laughter at my side. "I said I would share," I intoned, over Paul's boisterous laughter, my own smug smirk curling my lips. "I never said I would share with you." Other pack members joined in on the laughter, now, and Emily laughed so hard she clutched her engorged belly. Embry just shook his head but gave his own good-natured chuckle before hopping up off the floor. "Claire, you want to share?" I asked.

"Yes!" she exclaimed happily, promptly winging the sleeping bag she'd dug out of the closet at the side of Embry's head while his attention was still directed at me. The forest green bundle made a light 'poof' noise as it collided with his cranium and bounced off. Embry didn't so much as flinch as the sleeping bag bounced off his head and rolled away, though he did frown at Claire as she pushed past him and jumped onto the bed next to me. The pullout made a sharp noise of protestation at the sudden addition of her weight, but thankfully didn't collapse with both of us on it.

"Y'know," Embry said, "I'm feeling very attacked right now."

"Don't make yourself a target, then," Quil advised.

Embry clutched his chest and gasped in mock anguish. "And now my own best friend!"

The room seemed to collectively roll its eyes at Embry's antics and no one engaged him further. Claire settled under the covers next to me and those who had been unlucky enough to end up on the floor set up their sleeping bags. Poor Jake didn't seem to be faring too much better, having done his best to squish his torso onto the love seat and just allowing his legs to hang off. Paul leaned over and gave me a quick peck on the temple before leaning back in the recliner again and curling up under his blanket. I'm pretty sure he was asleep before Sam and Emily left the room and turned out the lights.

Through all this, it didn't escape me that Seth had never returned and sometime after the drawing, Brady had gone missing as well...

The look on Seth's face before he'd left earlier this evening haunted me as I got comfortable on the pullout. He'd looked so miserable and so worn down and he hadn't come back. That had me worried. Without even thinking about it, I flipped over in bed to face the recliner and was met with Paul's sleeping face. Just seeing him there, looking so at peace, the dark circles seeming to fade before my eyes, filled me with reassurance. Stuff with Seth would sort itself out. I smiled and let my eyes droop downwards, grateful to fall into the warmth of sleep after such a long day.

My eyes popped open and I sat up suddenly, looking around for what had woken me. Everything seemed pretty much in order... Paul was still stretched out on the recliner, one hand adorably fisted around the blanket and holding it high on his chest while the other lolled off the chair, looking like he was reaching for me. That made me smile, but my gaze still swept the living space, looking for what had caused my disturbance. Jake was still half-on, half-off the love seat, Claire hadn't moved, though she was drooling, and all of the sleeping bags were occupied upon inspection, and no one seemed to stirring, aside from myself. Had I just randomly woken up?

No, I hadn't, I realized, as I heard a soft, low pitched moan of pain, and I quickly whipped the blankets off me. I was slowly making my way around Leah, who had parked herself at the corner of the pullout, when something wrapped around my ankle.

I froze, freaked out and only able to see outlines in this dark room. I was actually surprised I didn't start screaming since this was some boogie man bullshit, but my vocal chords had locked up. I felt stupid a second later when Leah moved and looked up at me from her place on the floor, revealing that the 'thing' wrapped around my ankle, was in fact, her hand. "Did you hear that?" she asked.

I quickly snatched my ankle away. "Yes, I heard it!" I whispered roughly. "Don't do that!"

Leah clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle the laughter and even in the dark, I could see her shoulders shaking. "Oh, I'm sorry," she said, mirth clear in her voice, "did I scare you?"

"No!" I lied, glad that there was no way she could see my blush.

We both instantly sobered when we heard the low-pitched moan again and this time, I could tell that it was coming from the back of the house. Leah was on her feet next to me in the next heartbeat and we were heading towards the noise when Sam and Emily's door flew open and Sam bustled out, looking disheveled and not quite half awake. A partially exploded bag hung off his arm, clothes spilling out, and he said something completely incoherent.

Leah and I looked at each other. I shrugged. "Say again?" Leah asked.

Sam babbled more hot nonsense, but this time, I was able to pick out, "...babies...coming..." and then he shoved past us and ran out the front door, stepping on Quil and Collin on his way without so much as a pause.

"Ow!" Collin exclaimed, shaking out the hand that Sam had just trampled across.

"Sam, what the fuck?!" Quil yelled, clutching his side.

Leah and I looked at each other again and, in unison, we let out uncharacteristic squeals. After that, the room exploded into chaos. Leah disappeared down the hall and into Sam and Emily's room. Jake, startled by Quil's shout, fell off the love seat and onto Embry, who had been trying to get up, turning them both into a collapsed, flailing mass of limbs. "Dude, get _off_!" Embry bellowed as the two struggled to separate.

Paul leaped from his spot in the recliner, still clutching the blanket in one tightly fisted hand and in a clearly defensive stance. He blinked, eyes scanning the room wildly. "What is it?! Is it leeches?!" I snorted. Leeches? He must still be half asleep. I approached him and hesitantly touched his arm, not wanting to get punched since he clearly wasn't all here yet. Paul locked bleary eyes on me, blinking a few times until I saw awareness enter his gaze and he relaxed under my hand, moving so that his hand could grasp mine, and he gave the room a quick scan. "What going on, Syd?"

"Em's in labor!" I burst, super excited.

As if on cue, Emily shuffled out of her and Sam's bedroom with Leah helping to support her. She clutched her swollen belly and was breathing hard. Sam seemed to materialize in front of her - I didn't even see him cross the living room - and scooped her up as if she weighed nothing, sweeping her out of the room quicker than I could have thought. Leah followed, hot on his heels. A moment later, I heard car doors closing and tires squealing.

Jake and Embry finally untangled and Embry shoved Jake away from him. Quil had gotten up and was currently hovering over the only person who had managed to sleep through all of that, his lovely girlfriend who hadn't so much as paused in her light snoring. "Claire, honey, time to get up," Quil said, gently shaking her back and forth. She didn't stir. Quil sighed and gave a long-suffering look to the room at large. "This could take a while. You guys go on ahead."

I snickered but didn't need to be told twice. Paul and I ran out of the house, hand in hand. Ever a gentleman, Paul opened my door for me and gave me a quick boost before dashing around to his side. He was just about to pull out of the driveway when a horn blared and Embry's jeep veered around the back end of Paul's truck. Paul swore and stuck a hand out the window to flip the bird at Embry as he was already turning into the street and speeding away with Jake in the passenger seat.

As it turns out, all the hurrying was not strictly necessary. Paul and I arrived at the hospital to find Leah, Jake and Embry all sitting in the waiting room. Leah explained that Emily had already been admitted and was probably being examined. The others trickled in behind us. Quil showed up with a still partially passed out Claire leaning on him with Collin in tow. Jared and Kim, who had missed most of the madness in the living room, arrived shortly after. Altogether, we ended up taking most of a waiting room to ourselves.

Paul and I had gone to retrieve some snacks after about the first two hours of waiting and when we arrived, Seth was there. He looked like he'd been punched in the face, the circles under his eyes were so dark, and he was holding a very large cup of coffee. He gave me a tired smile when I passed him a little bag of sunflower seeds and it made his whole face light up but a second later, his light waned again as Paul took my hand and sat me down next to him.

I spent the next hour periodically throwing M&Ms at the back of Embry's head in retribution for almost hitting the back of Paul's truck earlier. Every time he would turn around and glare at me or huff, but then I got him good by sneaking up on him and dumping a handful of ice cubes down his shirt.

"Oh, shit!" he exclaimed, jumping up and doing a little shimmy to dislodge all the ice from his clothes. I quickly turned around and sat correctly in my chair, feigning innocence and wearing a sweet smile, as if butter wouldn't melt in my mouth. And I thoroughly enjoyed the stink-eye Embry got from the receptionist at his outburst. I felt him sit back down in his seat slowly, his back to mine, but he tilted his head so he could whisper, "That wasn't cool, LeHaye."

Likewise, I tilted my head a little so I could reply, "I think it was a little beyond cool, _Call._ "

"Sounds to me like you're declaring war."

"I'm declaring your decimation. I will display your head on a pike upon my victory."

"Uhhh... that escalated quickly." I could almost hear the frown on his face and all the while, Paul sat across from me, chuckling at our exchange and sipping on his coffee. Claire was laying across the two seats next to him which made me realize that Quil was suspiciously absent from his girlfriend's side. I lost interest in that subject quickly, though, since Sam appeared in a green smock and matching hat.

"The doctor says she should be ready to deliver in the next hour or so," Sam said, radiating both jitters and exultation simultaneously.

"So, you've gotta wear the dress now?" Jared asked while his fiance raised her phone and the camera flashed.

Sam frowned and snatched the hat off his head, causing chuckles all around, but turned to Leah. "So, Em's mom isn't going to make it in time. She wasn't expecting the babies to be born so soon, and well, she's out of state. Em and I would be... honored if you'd be in the room with us during the birth."

Leah looked absolutely stunned, but jumped up immediately and followed Sam as he disappeared back into the maternity ward.

Kim giggled, looking at the picture she'd taken of Sam. "He's so frantic. It's adorable!"

"I'd be frantic too, if it were me," Jake said, hunched low in his chair. He had a somewhat somber look on his face, like he felt like it _should_ be him. Then he seemed to shake himself out of whatever funk he'd gotten into and his bright smile returned. "Glad I don't have to wear that smock, though."

I filed the look on his face away in the back of my brain, knowing now was not the time to ask, but intensely curious about it anyway. Had Jacob felt that way about Emily? If so, that was way too weird, considering Leah's past with Sam, the fact that Jake was only 20 and the fact that Sam and Emily had been married for about three years now. Creepy... I must be reading that one wrong, I decided, not liking the alternative.

Paul leaned down to softly say, "You think too much," in my ear.

"Hmm?" I hummed, being pulled from my thoughts.

He chuckled, wrapping an arm around my shoulder. "You have a very expressive face, Syd. You look like you're having a full-blown conversation up there." He softly tapped my forehead for emphasis.

I smiled. He'd been watching me. "Maybe you should think more. I can never tell what you're thinking about."

Paul rested his head on mine, claiming my whole left side in the warmth he radiated. "Well, I gotta leave a little mystery, don't I?"

I pulled out of his embrace and gave him an incredulous look. "A _little_ mystery? I feel like I need a decoder ring just to talk to you sometimes." To emphasize, I grabbed his chin and began miming him talking. "I'm Paul Lahote, now with stoicism and hard to read facial expressions. Am I happy, am I sad - half the time, who knows?!" He knocked my hand away, but I felt like I'd made my point. "The only time I know exactly what you're feeling is when you're angry," I said with exasperation.

He quirked a brow at me. "Oh yeah? Well, what about you." Paul reached out and grabbed my chin and I let him because turn about is fair play... I suppose. Though it kind of felt like he was stealing my gimmick. "I'm Sydney LeHaye," he started with a way-too-high voice, "and you can read every single emotion I have but good luck ever figuring out why I feel that way." I didn't have to knock his hand away, he removed it himself, but that didn't mean I was happy about his analysis of me... because he was 100% correct and that pissed me off. "You might be an open book emotionally - I mean, I can tell you're annoyed right this very second - but I feel like you keep anything real inside your head... unless you're mad," he tacked on with a grin, probably thinking about the chewing out I gave him last night. Was it only last night? God, it felt like so much had happened since then.

I thought about it for a second - half because I really did need to think about it and half to annoy him. "I guess those are just things we have to work on," I finally settled on.

Paul gave me a real smile then, one of the ones that crinkled the corners of his eyes and just made them shine, and showed all of his teeth. "I like the sound of that."

Embry groaned. "If you two are done being sappy- hey, ow!"

Embry rubbed his head where Kim had just winged her keys at him. We are a very violent bunch, I thought, trying to suppress my laughter. "You stop it, Embry Call," Kim admonished and then looked over at the two of us with an almost adoring gaze. "They're so cute."

Under Kim's gaze, Paul and I both shifted in our seats so we weren't quite as fused together as we had been, but Paul did grab my hand and give it a squeeze.

Sam made his appearance then, his face shining like the sun. "Nicholas Leon Uley is a healthy 6 pounds, 2 ounces baby boy and Sophia Azalea Uley is a healthy, 5 pounds, 7 ounces little girl!" he announced. Jake was the quickest to react, bounding out of his chair to give the older man a tight hug and a slap on the back, followed by everyone else. A chorus of congratulations rang out.

Claire, who'd woken up a short while ago, was the first to ask, "So can we see them?"

"Of course!" Sam said, like it was obvious, "But the room isn't very big, so how about we do half at a time?"

Jared had to leave for work soon - god, was it really almost 11 in the morning? ugh - so he and Kim went in with the first half, along with Jake and Seth who needed to get the auto shop open - a piece of paper tacked on by Billy Black this morning at Jake's request wold only go so far. Claire went on in too. Damn, she slept like the dead. It was unnerving. And Quil still hadn't shown back up, which was weird. Collin, Embry, Paul and I were left in the waiting room while the first group went to go coo over the tiny little babies.

I went to the gift shop and had picked up matching bears - a fuzzy brown bear with a red heart for Nick and a fuzzy white bear with a pink heart for little Sophie. I think it was my mom's fault that I absolutely could not show up to see someone in the hospital without a gift. When I'd been in the hospital after my accident, she'd brought me something literally every day, and then when dad had appendicitis, she'd done the same.

After maybe another half hour, all of the first group filtered out and left to go do their own thing so the rest of us were allowed in the room to see Emily. I swear my uterus skipped a beat at the sight of Sam holding a little pink bundle and Em holding a little blue bundle. Despite only being 20, the baby fever hit me hard because I had never seen something so damn sweet in my entire life.

And, though I wouldn't EVER admit it out loud, for just a second, I had a flash of Paul and I exactly so.

I buried that thought deep in the recesses of my brain, 1000% not ready for anything that serious or of that magnitude. I also was extra certain not meet Paul's gaze because who knows what array of emotions had just passed over it. Like Paul said, my face was an open book and he didn't need to be reading into any of that. So I forced a smile and went and sat on the edge of Em's bed, placing a bear on either side of her. She looked beautiful and was glowing like new moms always seemed to. She must have freshened up a little, since her hair was tied into neat pigtails and she wasn't drenched in sweat. I knew labor was no picnic. I gently moved the blanket from the little blue bundle's face so I could peek in on him. "He is so precious, Em."

Emily smiled even wider down at her little boy. "I know," she said, her voice a little thick, like she was ready to burst into tears. And then she looked up and met my eyes. "Do you want to hold him?"

Did I fucking ever.

Instead of letting that particular thought through, I nodded and held out my arms. Ever so gently, she handed Nick over, very careful to support his little neck and I did likewise. I rested his head in the crook of my arm and gently rocked him. He gave a little, slightly disturbed gurgle at having been jostled, but soon settled back into peaceful rest. I had a feeling, if he opened his eyes, they'd be just like Sam's. I gently stroked his little baby cheek with one finger, entranced in how soft he was and I couldn't even look at the little fingers he had sticking out of the blanket because how could they be so tiny? How was that even possible? Fingers that tiny were totally impractical.

I heard Sophie give a little whimper and turned in time to see Sam hand the baby off to Collin who looked like he had no idea what to do with the little pink bundle and was holding her about a foot away from his body, like she was a bomb. Embry was next to him, looking much more at ease, but then he looked up at me with a shit eating grin.

"Hey, Syd... Can you speak baby?"

Emily was nice enough to throw Sophie's bear at him for me.

* * *

I was about to explode.

Now usually, when that thought entered my mind, it meant duck and cover, I was about to shred all my clothes and become a hulking mass of wolf. Not this time. No, this time I was about to explode because Sydney, the girl I'd imprinted on, the girl who it was all but confirmed I was probably going to spend the rest of my life with, was holding a baby - and a baby boy, at that - and my mind was going places it had no business going this early in the game.

 _She has no idea we're destined to be together,_ I reminded myself sharply, _and she's only twenty. TWENTY. TWO-ZERO, moron. Could you imagine being ready for a baby at that age? Then stop fucking thinking about it._

It wasn't like I was ready to throw down right then and there or anything, but I liked the idea a little bit too much for someone who had only gotten up the _cojones_ to tell her how I felt last night. Babies were so far down on the to-do list as far as this relationship went, it may as well not even be on the list yet. _But it is on the to-do list,_ my treacherous brain whispered and I could have cheerfully smacked myself. Hi, yes, let's reign it back in to the realm of possibility and, oh, I don't know, ask her to be your official girlfriend first.

I didn't know what was going on with me - I'd never really thought about babies as more than an abstract, maybe someday before Syd came into the picture. Plus, I was only twenty-four - and she was only _twenty_ , I reiterated to myself. I'd have to question some of the other guys who had imprints privately later and see if I was just a freak.

My good mood absolutely shattered when Seth, who'd left earlier to help Jacob open the auto shop, came bustling into the room. "Hey, Em," he greeted cheerfully, "I forgot I had these in my car - they're from mom and-" He cut off sharply when he laid his eyes on Sydney, who was still perched on the bed, not even so much as looking in his direction because she was so utterly entranced with little Nicholas. The expression on his face in that moment said it all and my blood _boiled_. I'd tried to deny it to myself, say it wasn't what I thought it was, that Seth was just being his friendly self, but that wasn't it at all. The softening of his eyes, the little smile that appeared on his face, and especially, how when just a second later, he looked at me and his eyes went cold and flat.

He was in love with her. Seth was in love with my imprint. And I wanted to murder him for it.

Sam was in front of us as I began to shake. In a low voice, he commanded me, "Paul, knock it off." The shaking stilled automatically under the clear order, though heat still scorched inside my chest as if I could have easily spit flames from sheer rage alone. Sam then turned on Seth, his face a clear warning. "Seth, you need to leave."

A muscle in his jaw ticked. "Fine," he said curtly, thrusting his hand forward, which held a little bundle of bibs. I could see SU embroidered in yellow on one next to a little bumblebee when Sam accepted the bundle. "Congrats, again, guys," he added, before turning on heel and leaving the room.

Sam stepped back, sensing the danger had passed, but the look on his face said he had more to say to me later.

I took a quick glance around the room. Collin was still looking at baby Sophie like she might be a hazard to his health and both Sydney and Emily were still bowed over baby Nick. The only person in the room who had picked up on what had very nearly gone down in here besides Sam and myself was Embry. Embry was usually a goof, always the first one to crack a joke, but the look on his face said that he knew just how messy that had almost gotten. He raised his brows at me as if to ask, "What the hell?"

I shrugged a single shoulder as subtly as I could manage, but I don't think he believed it.

Why did he pick now to be observant? Well, at least none of the others had caught on. The last thing I needed was for more people to catch on to this... _thing_ with Seth. I was already going to have to deal with Sam, especially since I'd almost lost my cool in a room with his two newborns. I was honestly disgusted with myself for that and vowed that when I hashed things out with Seth - and _I would_ \- that there wouldn't be any bystanders around.

For now, I let a slightly more muted than before happy glow take me over and perched myself next to Sydney and reaching our so baby Nick could grasp my finger. For such a tiny baby, he had a surprisingly strong grip. I wrapped my other arm around Sydney, pulling her closer to my chest and breathing in the soothing scent of lilac and lavender and enjoying how soft she felt in my arms.

 _Mine._

And then she looked up at me with the brightest smile, blue eyes sparkling with a tiny hint of tears that I was sure she was hoping I couldn't see, and I forgot all about what had happened to Seth, enveloped in a little Sydney bubble. Her smile seemed to echo my thoughts.

 _Yours._

* * *

 **A/N: So this is a lot different than the original chapter, huh? I dialed back some of the weird, out of place dramatics that happened with the baby in the NICU that literally never came up again and I'm really ramping up the Seth thing because I think the tension makes for a good read.**

 **I also think that it will make for an interesting dynamic when the big bad shows up.**

 **Thank you for reading and please, leave me your thoughts.**

 **Lass of the Lake**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Just sharing a little bit of positive energy - good things are happening for me and I hope they happen for you too.**

 **You'll also notice a lot of divergence in the story lines from here on out. I've made some different decisions this time around, partially because I was young when I wrote this and didn't know how a lot of things worked and partially because as I am seeing this story with fresh eyes, I feel like I can improve things.**

 **Love you all and please review!**

Chapter 7: The Past Bites

 _"I should have torn her throat out so you'd have no choice but to let her change."_

* * *

To be fair, I totally deserved this. On the other hand, my face taking a beating had not been on my to-do list today.

I'd shown up at work this morning, not quite sure what to expect. I knew Sam was going to be furious and totally expected him to chew me out, give me all the sucky patrols and make me deal with Charity Smith, a Forks resident who had been trying to get in my pants for years and showed up about every other week for something. She got her oil changed every 1500 miles, had her tires rotated and frequently had her engine checked because the light had come on, only for it to have mysteriously turned off by the time she'd brought it to us. All that, I expected. I hadn't expected him to drag me out the back of the shop and start wailing on me.

I didn't fight back, even though the my inner wolf was resting just beneath the surface, ready for a battle because Sam could throw a punch. He'd already shattered my cheekbone once - I'd felt it. I didn't even really try to defend myself because I knew that if someone had endangered my pups, my children, I wouldn't even have been able to keep my skin on. I had this coming and I'd take my lumps.

An uppercut to my chin reeled me back and I tripped over a rock that I hadn't seen behind me. I fell onto my back, hard, feeling some small rocks embed themselves in the skin in my back. Sam was breathing hard, standing over me. I was wondering if he might actually kick me when he gave a deep sigh and held out a hand to me so I could stand.

I took it cautiously, wondering if he'd drop me or take that opportunity to break my hand or something, but he just hauled me back onto my feet. I raised my eyebrows in silent question, wondering if he was done, and he just shook his head. "You're an asshole but... I get it."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, if one of you had ever looked at Emily that way after the imprint... Well, anyway..." he sighed, and then sat heavily on the bench that we all hung out on when things were slow around the shop. "I don't know what's going on with Seth. Jake and I discussed it on Sunday after I left Em to go home and shower. He said he'd heard Seth thinking about someone recently, but he'd never caught a name and he clammed up any time someone asked. I guess now we know why..."

Yeah, because the girl he was thinking about was supposed to be off limits and the others would have felt obligated to let me know. "Yeah, I guess we do," I said, sinking down next to my alpha. I was a little upset that Sam had gone and told Jake about this, but I understood. This could really blow up and it was important for the alphas of both packs to be on the same page. I just didn't want anyone else to know about this stupid situation. One of my best friends and pack mates - I mean, technically we ran in two separate packs, but we were all one big family - was, at worst, trying to steal my imprint from me and, at best, pining after my girl like a puppy. I wanted to settle this with him personally and one on one. I didn't want to bring anyone else into this and I especially didn't want Sydney to find out. It was bad enough that Embry had seen the almost-incident and had to be suspicious by this point, too.

"Paul," Sam began, and by the tone in his voice, I already knew that I wasn't going to like what he had to say to me next, so I braced for it. "Jake seems to think that Seth is serious about Sydney and that, if she shows any interest in return, he might..." Sam didn't need to finish the sentence for me to fill in the blank. He might try to push me out of the picture. And if anyone was familiar with that kind of situation, it would be Jake with his repeated bids to win Bella away from the swishy haired Cullen.

I dragged my hands down my face, torn between anger and hurt, and, if I were honest, just a little bit of fear. It wasn't totally unheard of for an imprint to not result in a happily ever after. Sure, it was rare - exceedingly so - for imprints not to end up together, but there was precedence. And if I were even more honest with myself, I could see why Sydney might find Seth to be a better fit for her. They shared an interest in art, something I didn't know shit about, he was better at expressing himself than I and all around, he just gave off better vibes of being good boyfriend material. I'd never known the guy to have a malicious bone in his body and I'd struggled with my anger for most of my adolescent and adult life. I'd gotten a better handle over it in the last two years or so, but I still had slip ups. Finally, I looked up at Sam. "You're the alpha, Sam. What do you think I should do?"

Sam blew out a deep puff of air. "I don't know. Talk to him, I guess. And when I say talk, I do mean talk," he said, giving me a pointed look, "and, I guess, try to give Sydney every reason you can think of to pick you."

Ugh, I did not like that answer at all.

"Sam, I don't want her to find out about this."

Sam gave me a sympathetic look and clapped a hand on my shoulder. "I don't think Seth's going to give you that option, man. You've gotta deal with what is, not what you want."

Stupid Sam and his stupid practicality. He was only two and a half years older than me. How was he so much better at this crap than I was? Well, the answer to that was pretty clear - he'd been in a healthy, successful relationship for over five years, which I seriously envied at the moment. But, unfortunately, he was correct - I had to deal with the current situation, what I wanted be damned.

We both stood and got ready to head inside and get back to work when Sam paused. "By the way, you're on midnight patrol for the next month."

 _Fuck._

* * *

My mom was vibrating, I think. Like, actually vibrating. She was pacing in front of the bay window that looked out over our front yard, stopping every other pass or so to peer out the front window. Today was the day that the social worker was going to drop off the boys that, if this all worked out, would eventually become my new brothers. My parents had actually received a call very quickly due to their willingness to adopt siblings so today we were welcoming seven-year-old Chris and five-year old Darren into our home.

My dad was managing to contain himself, sitting on one of the too-stiff fancy couches in what mom called the parlor with a book, patiently waiting for the doorbell to ring. I swear, if either one of us would have let her, my mom would have had us out on the front porch in a perfect family pose. As it was, I was pretty sure we were going to have to grab her before she sprinted out the front door as soon as the social worker pulled up.

My phone vibrated and I pulled it out. _"They there yet?"_ I smiled involuntarily, reading the message from Paul, and quickly responded in the negative before sliding my phone back in my pocket.

"I wonder who that was," my mom said, having paused her pacing to give me a knowing look, a sly grin gracing her wide lips.

I blushed. "Oh sure, this you stop pacing for," I said sarcastically.

If I'd been seeing a lot of Paul before the still as yet unexplained period of absence, I was seeing even more of him now. In the last week and a half since Em had her babies, we'd seen one another every day except for one in which I'd gone to Port Angeles to help my mom pick out some decor for the boys' room. I still wasn't sure where we stood as far as official labels yet, but I'd taken to calling him my boyfriend in my head and he'd been liberal with the affection since he'd sort of confessed to liking me. I mean, he hadn't outright said it, but I thought that kiss - and and those that followed - spoke for itself. My parents became savvy to the development in our... courtship when he'd taken his sweet time giving me a goodnight kiss a few nights prior and my mom had peaked through the blinds. I'd almost died of embarrassment that evening.

Mom gave a throaty chuckle. "If you didn't want us to know then you two shouldn't have been so obvious," she said, turning back to the window and peeking through the blinds again.

My dad turned a page in his book and asked, "So where is Paul today?"

"Working," I answered simply.

Dad glanced up from his book to meet my eyes. "Will he be coming by later?"

I shook my head. "No, I told him tonight needed to be dedicated to family."

Dad bobbed his head in approval. "Good, I wanted to take everyone out to dinner tonight to celebrate."

My mom's sudden squeal almost gave me a heart attack and before anyone could do anything to prevent it, the front door was flung open and she was halfway across the porch. My dad put his book down and jumped up. "Miss!" he called after my mom, following her out the door so that she couldn't mow down those poor boys. He caught up to her as she made it down the porch steps, catching her wrist to reign her in.

The social worker, a darkly complected woman with lightly graying hair woven into tight braids and twisted into a bun on her head, had just gotten out of the vehicle and gave my mom a warm smile before opening the back door and letting the boys out. Mom and Dad had already gone to meet Chris and Darren, but this was my first time. Darren was a little pudgy and was clinging tightly to an Iron Man figurine, refusing to meet anyone's eyes. The older boy, Chris, gave a nervous smile and for being only seven, he was already kind of long and lanky. Both boys had dark hair and eyes with olive-ish skin tones, falling somewhere between my skin tone and dad's.

"Darren, Chris, you remember Jed and Missy, don't you?" the social worker asked.

"Yeah... hey," Chris said with a little wave.

I saw Darren's mouth move but couldn't hear what he said from where I was standing on the porch.

My mom, being the loving soul that she is, held her arms out for a hug when the boys approached. Darren backed up, clutching Iron Man even harder, but Chris came in for a hesitant hug. My mom's face was absolutely radiant when he pulled away. She turned and gestured towards me, saying, "And this is our daughter, Sydney. She's going to help show you around the house."

I waved from where I was, not wanting to overwhelm them. The social worker tucked her folder in her arm and took Darren's hand to lead him towards the house with Chris trailing not far behind my parents. I bypassed the parlor completely, thinking that the stiff, formal room wouldn't do anything to put the boys at ease. Instead, I headed for the great room where my mom had laid out some cut up fruit and put out a pitcher of lemonade. A) everyone loves food and b) the large, overstuffed sectional in there was a hell of a lot more homey and welcoming than the prim floral printed couch and matching chairs in the parlor.

The sectional was in a boxy 'U' shape, all pointed towards the massive entertainment center which was currently playing soft instrumental music with one of those pretty, multi-colored screen savers going on the TV. I settled on one side, my parents settled in the center and the social worker and the boys settled on the other side, directly across from me. Chris, by far the more outgoing of the two, even sat closest to my parents whereas Darren was hiding himself on the other side of the woman, not clutching his Iron Man figurine to his chest as he had been, but still fiddling with it. He looked up to give the room a quick scan when he thought no one was paying attention to him and accidentally met my eyes. I tried to give him a comforting smile but I don't know if it helped at all, since he broke eye-contact a half-second later.

We all sat and talked for about an hour or so. Darren accepted some apple slices when offered and Chris slurped down two glasses of lemonade and some melon chunks. I didn't have a lot to contribute to this conversation so I mostly just answered direct questions. Eventually, it came time for mom and dad to sign some papers - a very boring activity for children - so my dad turned to me. "Hey, Syd, why don't you show the boys their room?"

Chris immediately perked up and I even saw Darren give me a curious glance. I pushed myself off the couch, replying, "Sure, no problem. Would you boys follow me upstairs?"

Chris nodded and bounded up, pausing in front of his younger brother and offering him his hand. Darren took his older brother's hand and I thought my mom was going to burst into tears right that second at the cute moment between siblings. It was an emotional day for her, I knew, so I couldn't really blame her if she did. She'd always wanted a huge family and it was finally happening.

Now, mom had actually prepared two rooms for the boys, but the social worker had suggested, at least until they were comfortable in the new environment, that mom have them sleep in the same room so that they had one another for support. The smaller of the two rooms that would eventually become Darren's door was closed, but I pushed open the other door and made a grand gesture with my arms; "Ta-da!"

As always, my mom had gone insane with the decoration. This room was more tailored to Chris, obviously, who, when he'd met my parents previously, had expressed an interest in outer space. Most of the room was painted a light grey, but the feature wall that the two beds sat against was a colorful mural of the solar system that I'd helped her a little with and there were those little star, comet and moon glow in the dark stickies plastered all over the ceiling. Additionally, when asked about what his favorite animal was, he'd said T-Rex, so his comforter had little cartoon dinosaurs printed on it, including the T-Rex.

If I took Darren into his room, he'd see the Avengers theme mom was still in the process of putting together for him, but the Iron Man bedding was enough to light up his little face and he ran to sit on the bed.

"This is so cool!" Chris exclaimed, looking up at the stickies. He looked around some more, oohing and ahhing over some of the toys my mom had already stashed in here, but then a slight frown took over his face. "Hey... um, your name is Sydney, right?" I nodded encouragingly . "Well, Sydney, do you think your parents would let us have a TV in here? Darren sleeps better with the background noise."

It was so cute how he watched out for his little brother. "Oh, yeah," I said, picking myself out of the corner in the room I'd put myself in to stay out of the way while they explored. I went over to the large cupboard that sat opposite the two beds - no doubt they thought it was a standing wardrobe - and opened the double doors, revealing the small flat screen and DVD player that dad had already set up for them. "Here you go," I said, with another flourish.

Darren blinked, a happy smile crossing his face. "D-do you have any superhero m-movies?" he asked in a very soft voice. It was the first time I'd heard him say anything.

I nodded, digging the first Iron Man film out of the bottom drawer in their cabinet and popping it in the DVD player. Chris and I chatted for a little while about things - likes, dislikes, whether or not aliens were real (we were both firmly in the camp of yes, aliens were real) and other little things while Darren was enchanted by the film, thrilled to be watching his hero on the big screen. I noticed when he finally put his figure down and held his chin in his hands instead, finally looking at least somewhat relaxed.

I was telling Chris about how Pluto used to be a planet when I was a kid, when Darren suddenly looked over at me and blurted, "Sydney, are you adopted too?"

I blinked, surprised by his sudden boldness, but nodded. "Yeah, I'm adopted. Jed and Missy have been my mom and dad since I was about 10 years old," I answered honestly.

"Are they nice?" Darren asked, seeming concerned.

"The nicest people I've ever known," I assured him.

Chris piped in next, uncertainty in his voice; "What happened to your real parents?"

I knew Chris was too young to know that referring to my bio parents as "real" wasn't a very nice thing to say, so I blew right past that point. "Well," I hedged, trying to think about my answer. I definitely didn't want to discuss the finer points of why my bio mother wasn't around so I chose my words very carefully. "I lived with my biological father, but he... passed away when I was almost nine. My mom wasn't a very nice person and wasn't very good about taking care of me so the state decided to place me with a new family who would take good care of me and I've been with Jed and Missy ever since. They officially adopted me two years later."

I knew what had happened to Darren and Chris' parents - mom had informed me after their meeting - so I wasn't surprised when he looked down sadly and said, "Our real parents died in a car crash."

I gently scooted towards Chris and stuck out my arms for a hug, uncertain of what I could say. Chris took me up on it, hugging me a lot more readily than he had hugged my mom earlier. I was even more surprised to feel the bed shift and to feel another, smaller set of arms join the hug, but struggling to reach all the way around us. I felt like it was time for a change of subject, so after the hug broke, I asked, "So, have you guys ever played Mario Kart?"

~Forever and Always~

After all the paperwork was filled out and we'd spent a little time getting to know one another, we all took off to go to dinner in Port Angeles. I took my own car because as much as I liked the boys, it was going to be very cramped sitting between the two of them in my dad's midsize sedan, especially with Darren still being in a booster seat. By the end of the dinner, both of the boys had already warmed up a lot. Their was still a little bit of hesitance, but both boys were laughing and smiling and Darren wasn't clutching Iron Man for dear life anymore. Then, after dinner we went to the local Gamestop and and grabbed a copy of Lego Marvel Superheros for the boys to play.

I was fixing to jump in my car and meet them back at home when my dad came and caught my door before I could close it. "Hey, dad. What's up?" I asked.

My dad gave me a proud dad smile. "You did real good today, Syd. You spending time with Chris and Darren while your mother and I were taking care of business helped them relax and open up a lot." He gave me a playful little knock on the chin with his knuckle. "I always knew you'd make a great big sister."

I smiled happily. "Thanks dad."

"So..." he hedged, running a hand through his short hair, "as a thank you for being such a wonderful big sister today and helping out with your brothers' adjustment, I was thinking that we would release you for the rest of the evening to go see Paul, or whatever."

I felt my eyebrows shoot up in surprise. I'd honestly blocked out the whole night as just family time and hadn't thought to see Paul at all this evening, but I couldn't say the idea didn't appeal to me a little. Everything was still so fresh and exciting. However, I wasn't the type of girl who let a relationship, or a potential relationship for that matter, get in the way of my bond with my family. "Are you sure, dad?"

He waved me off. "Yeah, I'm sure. It's been such a long day for the boys, they'll probably fall asleep on the ride home anyway. Go see your boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend," I retorted automatically, heat rising in my cheeks.

Dad lasered me with a skeptical look. "Yeah, uh huh," he replied, sarcasm dripping off his words, "he's not your boyfriend and I'm the Queen of England. Get out of here." He closed my door for me before jogging back to where mom and the boys were waiting for him in his car. I smiled and shook my head. I really did have the best parents ever. I turned on my car and happily began the long drive home.

I wanted to surprise Paul so I didn't message him, figuring he'd be at his apartment with the time quickly approaching ten o'clock at night. I was glad my parents considered me responsible enough to not only not have a curfew but to even go as far as sending me out to see my almost-boyfriend semi-late at night. I was practically floating the whole way home, excited at the prospect of seeing Paul and feeling very positive after such a great day. I had two new little brothers to teach all my evil ways to - pass on my legacy, as it were - and it felt like nothing could bring me down.

Something did bring me down though. Slowly, as I approached the Forks/La Push area, my mood started to dip. Something seemed... off. I couldn't put my finger on what exactly it was. It felt like there were eyes on me, but there were no other cars around, so how could that be?

Something was wrong, I realized. Like, really wrong. I wouldn't classify myself as psychic by any means, but ever since the accident that had caused my freaky communication skills, I'd been a touch intuitive. I knew when the big things were coming, like when animals scattered before a nasty storm. I'd felt it before my dad had to have his appendix removed, I felt it right before we got the call about mom's mom (I'd never felt close enough to her to call her grandma) passing of cancer last year, and looking back now, I'd felt something before I moved to La Push. I hadn't realized it at the time because the vibe was positive and that wasn't something I was familiar with. In fact, even identifying the 'bad feelings' could be a bit tricky. That was part of what was freaking me out so much. I didn't just _think_ something was wrong - I _knew_.

I felt my whole body tense, seemingly without reason but a split heartbeat later-

 _SMASH!_

A huge rock slammed through my windshield, passing mere inches away from my head into the recesses of my car and raining glass shards down on me. I screamed in terror and squeezed my eyes shut to protect them from the tiny sharp pieces that sprayed everywhere. I slammed on the break and my car gave a wrenching screech. The ground must have been a little slick from the ever-present rain because I felt myself beginning to fishtail, but luckily, the car came to a stop before the situation could worsen.

I slowly opened my eyes, shocked at the huge hole in my windshield - it was bigger than my head! Where the fuck...? I was alone on this road, at least as far as I could see, so it wasn't like a semi had picked up a rock or anything. So where had it come from?

I shifted, brushing glass from myself. I didn't think I'd gotten cut at all, thankfully. After I got most of the glass pieces dislodged from my clothing, I leaned over and pooped the glove box, reaching for the flashlight within. I found it and immediately clicked it on, its light stream powerful. I twisted in my seat, looking for the rock with the help of the beam of light. It wasn't hard to find. I picked it up, immediately noticing that it was pretty hefty, and larger than my entire hand. I dropped it in my passenger seat, wanting to keep it for evidence when my parents questioned what had happened to my windshield. Then I shoved the driver's door open, ready to go figure out what the hell had sent what was easily a ten-pound rock through my window.

The second my feet hit the pavement, I knew I'd made a huge mistake.

There was a large metal creaking noise and the sound of an impact and suddenly, there was a man standing before me, with only the open car door standing between us. My brain was still grinding along, trying to process what had just happened, where he'd materialized from, when he gave me an absolutely terrifying, man-eating smile, and greeted me; "Hello, Sydney."

Even more terrifying than his grin was the gaze that was fixed on me. His eyes were the same color as fresh blood.

My heart was pounding so hard I could hear it pulsing in my ears, but I made an effort to stay calm outwardly. "Uh, do I know you?" I asked stupidly. He looked vaguely familiar, but I'd never seen anyone with blood red eyes before.

"You know, Sydney, that hurts my feelings," he said, almost conversationally, and took a step forward. I automatically took a step back and knew in the same heartbeat I made the decision to move that it was a mistake. His grin lessened and his brows furrowed ever so lightly. He looked so familiar, but there was also something really... off about him. The pallor of his skin seemed extreme, as did the crimson of his eyes and he was beautiful, but not in a way I recognized. Then his eyes narrowed, and I felt another little tinge of recognition, which was only cemented a moment later when, in a disgusted tone, he said, "Though with that pretty new boyfriend of yours, I guess I could understand how you'd forget all about your first love."

"Oh, my god," I breathed, unable to believe it. "Cade?"

His ghastly smile returned. "So you do remember. That's a relief."

I felt like I'd short circuited. I wasn't able to really absorb any of this. Cade was _here_? How? Why? And more importantly, why did he look so different? When I'd known Cade, he'd been cute, but his features were more angular now, more like a model and less boy-next-door. And his eyes had been green, not red.

A chill crept down my spine. _This is bad,_ I thought to myself. Now that I'd had a second, my brain was starting to register some facts that it hadn't been able to before. For one, I was fairly certain that Cade had been the reason a rock had flown through my windshield and that the creaking metal noise I'd heard briefly was him jumping onto the roof of my car and then onto the pavement before me. This begged the question - how could he have lobbed a rock through my window and then miraculously have been in the tree above my car where I stopped, a few hundred feet down the road? And how had he jumped from the tree onto my car and then onto the ground before I'd so much as been able to look his way?

Unless he was moving preternaturally fast.

"Hmm," he hummed, recapturing my attention. I immediately berated myself for getting too lost in my thoughts. In my distraction, he'd managed to move so that the door was no longer between us, and he was close enough to reach out a hand and caress my cheek. "I'd have been so sad if you'd forgotten about me, love. Grace and Jake will be relieved, too. All I've been able to do these past two years is talk you up." The touch of his hand on my cheek was gentle, but his fingers were hard and the cold of his hands made me flinch. Another mistake, I realized, as I looked into his eyes and saw the anger that blazed within. No, not anger. Cold fury. Cold, just like him. "Don't," he warned in a low, animalistic growl.

In for a penny, in for a pound.

"Get the fuck away from me!" I gripped the flashlight tightly and swung it at his face. I was expecting a crack, like the sound of a nose breaking, but it was more like a clang and sounded like I'd hit stone instead of flesh and bone. I didn't wait to see what his reaction would be. I dove back in the car, closing the door in the very same movement. I hit my head on the way in, but it hardly fazed me. I took the car out of park and was just about to stomp on the gas when my driver's side window was broken, causing me to scream involuntarily and a hand clutched my throat, cutting off my bleat of terror. I flicked my eyes in his direction, but was careful not to move anymore. If I'd thought he was furious before, he looked downright murderous now.

His hand tightened a fraction around my throat and I gulped. "Don't make me do something I'll regret," he said, his voice flat and devoid of anything resembling humanity. "I love you, but if you pull anything like that again..." he sighed, as if put out, "I'll have to do something about it."

The vagueness of his threat wasn't reassuring, but I thought saying so would probably end with my neck broken. I looked into his eyes steadily, refusing to be cowed by him or the danger I was in, and noticed the bright rubies of his irises had dulled to more of a crimson color. My flashlight also hadn't done shit to his face.

Cade broke the gaze first and took his hand from my throat, ripping my driver's side door off its hinges in the same second with a sharp metal groan and threw it across the road. The message was clear - I wouldn't get a chance to try that again. I slowly stood from my seat, facing him once more. I was scared out of my mind and was pretty sure I was going to die tonight, but I'd be damned if I let him see it.

I only wished I could have a final call. I'd call Paul. I'd tell him that he was great and that I wished we could have had more time together. I'd tell him to tell my family and the pack how much I loved them. I'd tell him to let Embry know I was waiting on the other side to get him back for putting the mouse in my car. I'd tell him about that moment in the hospital when I'd seen a flash of our future together and tell him how much I wished I'd be around to see it.

"So stubborn," Cade said scornfully. He grabbed me around my upper arms. "Sydney, I love you... I want to be with you forever but... this is the only way."

My resignation waned a little bit at the proclamation of love. I wasn't stupid enough to believe he loved me, not even for a moment. You don't do this to people you love. If Cade had ever loved me, and I didn't think he had, he certainly didn't now, and whatever he'd become was frightening.

Cade didn't seem to notice my disdain growing by the second because a moment later, he crushed his lips against mine. I didn't dare pull away, thinking that if I did, he'd probably follow through on the whole "I'll have to do something about it," threat, but I did begin to formulate some ways that I might be able to get away from him. I'd need a big distraction, that was certain. It might take a miracle but I'd hold out for one as long as I could. One thing I didn't want was to ever kiss this cold monster ever again. His mouth was demanding, hard and uncompromising. I could feel the bruising forming beneath my skin where he dominated my mouth with his. Cade began moving down, attempting to give me butterfly kisses across my jaw, or so I guessed, but he was being way to rough to qualify. I sucked in a sharp gasp as I felt him stop at the juncture between my neck and shoulder and heard him take in a deep breath and simultaneously feeling the graze of teeth.

Cade was going to bite me. Oh my god, Cade was a fucking vampire!

"You're mine," he purred.

Two things happened in the next instant. One, as a last ditch effort to escape, I shoved Cade away from me as hard as I could physically manage and I heard the fabric of my shirt tearing underneath his hard grip. The other was a deep enraged voice screaming, _"SYDNEY!"_ and a giant wolf charging right past me, taking advantage of the little bit of space I'd managed to put between Cade and myself and tackling the vampire, pushing him further out. I'd knocked myself off balance when I shoved him and tumbled back onto the pavement. A moment later, I felt the burning in my right arm and realized that he hadn't just torn my sleeve when I'd pushed him, but deeply into my flesh, as well. I gave my other arm a quick check, and discovered that he'd cut into me there as well, but not nearly as badly.

One of my biggest flaws is how I tend to freeze under pressure. I'd taken basic first aid, I knew I needed to do something to stem the blood that was flowing freely from my arm, trickling down my arm in a warm stream, but I couldn't. For one, the sight of my own muscles being exposed was doing a funny flippy thing to my stomach and I was pretty sure I was going to be sick if I looked again. For another, I was utterly entranced by the large wolf in front of me.

He crouched in a defensive stance before me, hackles raised as Cade regained himself and came face to face with the gigantic wolf. He was a pretty silver and stood about a head taller than me. And the growl emanating from the creature was the single most ominous sound I'd ever heard.

Cade hissed, crouching himself. He made to get around the wolf, but the wolf snapped viciously and Cade fell back again. His face, which had been beautiful and angelic when smooth, was now contorted into something demonic and frightening. "Ah, you. I should have known you'd interfere, you stupid dog," he snarled contemptuously. "I should have torn her throat out so you'd have no choice but to let her change." Cade feigned like he was going to lunge to the left, but then lunged to the right and jumped me. The wolf was not fooled, though, and quickly used one of its massive paws to bat him out of the air, making him skid back across the pavement.

 _"DON'T YOU DARE FUCKING TOUCH HER!"_ the beast roared, huffing roughly and baring its teeth.

That voice... it sounded so familiar, but I couldn't place it. And... the wolf had said my name. How...? And were those... shorts belted to his leg?

I didn't have much more time to dwell on what all that meant for this damn near mythical mammoth of a wolf, as the wind changed and Cade paused from where he was picking himself up off the pavement and took a deep breath. A brief look of ecstasy crossed his face and when he opened his eyes and zeroed in on me, they were pitch black.

 _Oh, fuck._

The large wolf gave another snarl as Cade came at him with abandon, not as careful or defensive as he'd been mere moments ago and hardly looking at the wolf in front of him at all. His eyes were all for me and he had the look of a man deranged with starvation. I thought the red eyes had been unsettling, but the black was worse. It was like he had black holes set in his face. I was so scared, I didn't even know I'd started crying - not until I felt the tears streaking down my face, warm and wet. I didn't let my fear stop me though. I saw how my blood affected him and took the opportunity. I plunged my hand into the wound, not deeply, but enough to coat my hand in my own blood. I bit back the groan of pain that threatened as my arm throbbed and burned at the contact of a foreign object touching my tender, exposed nerves. And then, I stood and flung the arm that wasn't torn as badly in an arc, splattering blood on the pavement close to where the wolf and Cade were fighting.

It worked. Cade lunged towards where the blood landed with an animalistic snarl that turned into a howl of pain. The wolf had taken advantage of his distraction and gotten its massive teeth around the vampires arm and torn it clear off. It sounded as if someone had taken a sledgehammer to a stone. The arm landed with a loud thunk several feet away. Cade clutched at where his arm had once been attached and I couldn't help but notice that he didn't bleed. Oh, god, he really was a goddamn vampire.

The wolf snapped his jaws in warning. _"Just try it, bloodsucker. I'll take the other one too."_

Cade hissed, but I noticed, didn't make another move forward. "Fine. But I'll be back for her," he said to the wolf, and then he turned to me, "And then... forever."

A moment later, he was just... gone. My eyes couldn't even track him in the dark. And here I was, alone, on a pretty much abandoned road with a behemoth wolf - a wolf that had just saved my life. The great, majestic creature stared into the darkness beyond for a little while, as if to make sure that he was gone, before turning around to face me. I was starting to lose my strength, the adrenaline already beginning to fade from my system and my blood loss and terror and exhaustion all catching up at once with me. I sagged, barely managing to catch myself on the hood of my car. I cried out as the muscles in my arm gave blistering jolt of pain at the weight bearing down on them.

The wolf whined and came up beside me, nosing his way under my left arm. I grabbed onto him, glad for the support. "Thank you," I said softly as I burrowed my into the fur around his neck, "you saved me."

 _"Don't..."_ the wolf choked out. _"If I'd gotten here faster, you'd be okay."_ I was surprised and pulled back enough to look at the shockingly intelligent eyes that stared back at me. Eyes that I did recognize. Eyes that I'd spent so much time staring into, there was no way I couldn't remember them now. The deep flecks of green were visible, even here in the middle of nowhere, in total darkness with only my headlights and the discarded flashlight to illuminate the area. He'd had his back to me throughout the whole altercation with Cade, otherwise, I would have already seen it. But... how?

My memory echoed his words; _"There are things I need to tell you - things about me - but I don't know if it's the right time... I don't want to scare you away,"_ he'd said, and, _"My secret... it's big. And I think there's a better time to tell you - a better way."_

A very small part of me was screaming internally about how impossible this all was. An hour ago, I thought I was a sideshow freak of massive proportions because I could communicate with animals, but all this... this was insane. My grip was weakening by the second, too, and I didn't think I could keep myself upright much longer. My head was getting fuzzy and I could still feel blood pouring down my arm. Still, I found it in me to push the part of me that screamed that this was all impossible to the side. Then I looked into the wolf's hazel eyes and did my best to give him a little sarcastic grin.

"I think there was a better way to tell me... Paul."


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: I am trying to be nice and get as much done as I can before school starts because I have a feeling, I won't be getting to too much writing during the semester. I'm taking three classes, I've promised aforementioned imprisoned loved one that I'd come visit him at least once a month, if not twice and I've just lost my job so I'm trying to find another.**

 **In short, I'm a busy lady. But I'm also determined to finish this story this time.**

 **Please review. I love hearing thoughts on my work. Don't be afraid to critique me, either. I love you all!**

Chapter 8: Slightly Bowed, a Little Bent, Unbroken

 _"She pushed a vampire?"_

* * *

 _A few hours earlier_

"Please, man," Jared begged, "Please, please, please. Kim's going to be so mad at me if I can't make it to Reineer by morning for her family's reunion."

I was already getting ready to go, but thought it would be fun to make him sweat it out. I shoveled another bite of instant noodles into my mouth before saying, "I don't know man. I still have almost a whole month of midnight patrols left and you want me to come in _early_ for one." Truth be told, I honestly didn't give a shit. What was four extra hours? Sydney was going to be incommunicado tonight anyhow, what with her family trying to get their foster kids acclimated. I thought it was sweet how much she worried about making a good impression on them, as if anyone could think she was anything but fantastic. Though, I'll admit, I'm totally biased. She was still going to make an excellent big sister.

And Seth wasn't scheduled for the other night time patrol - Jake was working the midnight with me tonight - so there shouldn't be any issues.

It was weird, going back to the old constant vigilance days. Since the Cullens had vamoosed two years prior and we hadn't seen sight nor scent of bloodsucker, we'd all relaxed a little. There had still been a nighttime patrol, but only one wolf, and we'd let daytime go by the wayside. We'd upped it to two daytime shifts, eight hours apiece and then two midnight to eight a.m. patrols when I'd scented out the leech at Sydney's place just in case he decided to make a reappearance. The increase in security also had everyone a lot more on edge because suddenly we were all patrolling two or three times a week when we'd all gotten to go about a week and a half in between patrols before. Jared and Kim had planned this trip over a month ago and because of the changes, she'd had to leave without him to guarantee their hotel.

Jared groaned and I was just about to let him off the hook when he said, "Fine, as soon as your time on the shit list is done, I'll take one of your regularly assigned midnight patrols off your hands."

"Deal," I said instantly. I would have done it for nothing, but I'd be a fool not to accept this trade. I was off tomorrow anyway so I could sleep when Leah took over in the a.m.

He sighed in relief. "Thank you so much. Kim's cousins are... critical."

I snorted. Yeah, okay, critical, sure. More like racist. Kim's grandmother was a white woman who'd married a Quileute man and her parents and two brothers hadn't liked that one bit. They'd called her all sorts of name and labeled Alisa derogatory things like "half-breed" and "squaw." It had gotten even worse when Alisa had also married a Quileute tribe member and had Kim and her sister, Kate. "Why is she even going? Aren't they, like, really horrible to her whole family?" I was really glad that wasn't as big of a problem in this day and age. Sydney's family was pretty mixed, racially, but no one had anything but kind things to say about the LeHaye family.

"It's important to her," was all Jared told me, sounding like he'd had this exact argument before and he was done with the subject. "Anyway, thanks for taking the end of this patrol for me. Will you be ready to take over soon?"

I threw the dirty bowl in the sink and grabbed my keys off my dining table and headed out the door. "I'm already out the door, man. Go ahead and head out."

There was a brief pause and then Jared swore, "You asshole, you were going to take the shift before I offered the trade."

I laughed, "Bye buddy, enjoy your trip." And then I hung up the phone before he could call me anything else. I usually preferred to do my patrols in wolf form but recently, I'd been more partial to patrolling on two feet. It was no mystery as to why - if Sydney texted or called me, I wanted to be able to get back to her quickly. I was so freaking whipped. I know that's usually a derogatory thing guys - my past self included - say about another guy's devotion to his girl, but I legitimately didn't mind. I _wanted_ to care for her, I _wanted_ to make her happy and I always _wanted_ to talk to her just about more than anything else. I wasn't expecting a text tonight, but just in case, I jogged around the woods in human form.

A few hours passed and everything seemed all clear. A quick glance at my phone showed it was around 10:30. I groaned. Apparently, this night was going to take forever. Jake wasn't even going to be on patrol for another hour and a half so I didn't even have anyone to talk with to pass the time. Midnight patrols sucked. I was glad I'd made that trade after all.

I was startled by the sound of heavy footfalls, coming my way fast. It sounded like a wolf, but I wasn't sure why one of the guys would be coming my way. No one should even be phased right now.

I paused and watched and did see the outline of a large wolf coming towards me. His scent warned me near second before he appeared directly in front of me - _Seth_. I wanted to yell at him to get the hell out of here, this wasn't the time, I was on patrol, but he un-phased before I could and the panicked, worried expression on his face was enough to silence me. "Paul, Sydney's parents just got home. The scent of leech is all over their car and... and Sydney hasn't come back."

My heart stopped dead in my chest. "Was it...?" I asked, unable to say the words.

Seth knew exactly to what I was referring. "Yeah, the same fucking bloodsucker that was outside her house a few weeks ago."

 _Oh, god, no,_ I thought, my whole body going numb. I couldn't even care that Seth had clearly been lurking outside her house, waiting for her to get home. I had hoped against hope that the bloodsucker wasn't targeting her - that he'd just wandered into the territory, stopped at the wolf scent that surrounded her house because of her involvement with the pack and then decided against hunting in the area because of how repugnant we smelled to them. It had been too convenient, I knew. But I'd still stupidly hoped.

"Get Jake," I said, "Get anyone you can find. I'm going to find her."

For a half second, he looked like he was going to argue; his mouth opened and he glared at me, but then he caught himself. His jaw snapped shut and clenched, a muscle fluttering lightly at the movement and gave me a single nod. Simultaneously, we phased into our wolf forms and bounded past each other; him further into La Push and me heading towards the border. If there was one thing we could both agree upon, it was that her safety mattered more than our squabble over her.

It felt like I ran forever without knowing where I needed to go. I tried to stay along the main road into La Push without being close enough to the road to be seen by oncoming cars, but I wasn't even sure that's where she'd be. It was a long drive from La Push to Port Angeles. She could be back near the city for all I knew. He may have stopped her from ever reaching her car...

As if to contradict that thought, I heard Sydney's voice scream, "Get the fuck away from me!" and a clanging noise. It was such a Sydney-esque thing to say, I almost smiled to myself. Almost. But at least she was here and I knew she was alive. I kicked up my pace just a notch. I wasn't close enough to hear everything, but I heard a window smash and her scream cut off abruptly. If I could have gone any faster, I would have. I heard the sound of metal being torn just a second afterwards. What the fuck was the filthy vermin doing to _my_ Sydney?

I could hear his voice now, though not clearly enough to make out what he was saying. He sounded angry though. I broke through the trees just in time to see him lowering his head to her throat, a hand grasping her on either side by the upper arms, and I heard it clearly when he purred, "You're mine."

Over my dead body.

" _SYDNEY!_ "

As if anticipating my charge, Sydney shoved the tick away from her, moving before she could have possibly registered me roaring her name, managing to get just enough space between them so that I could take him down without so much as brushing her. _Good job, Syd,_ I thought to myself as the vampire rolled back and came back at me. I growled in low warning and he hissed his own. I could take this leech down. He wasn't a newborn anymore if Sydney could so much as budge him and he definitely didn't have the age an experience to overcome that. He was crouched, ready to spring the second he saw an opening, and he looked about as insane and angry as I'd ever seen. His eyes were the familiar ruby-fading-to-onyx of a hungry vamp. He lunged and I snapped, barely missing him. The bastard was smart enough to fall back.

"Ah, you," he ground out contemptuously, "I should have known you'd interfere, you stupid dog. I should have torn her throat out so you'd have no choice but to let her change." He was trying to rile me, distract me, and I was riled - in that, at least, he succeeded - but his mistake was thinking that riling me would make me sloppy. I saw that his lunge was a feign and was more than ready to bat him out of the air when he leaped in the opposite direction instead. He slid back on the pavement.

 _"DON'T YOU DARE FUCKING TOUCH HER!"_ I roared with all my might. He thought he could take my Sydney away? He'd die for it.

The wind picked up, changing directions and I internally swore when I realized that Sydney was bleeding and her scent was heading straight towards the vamp. He'd caught it too, if the look on his face was anything to go by. He closed his eyes to savor the scent of her blood on the air for just a second and when he opened them, they were darker than I'd ever seen. _Shit._

The vamp came at me harder now, lashing out with abandon. He almost breached my defenses just from sheer unpredictability. A second later, there was a wet splattering sound and the scent of blood in the air intensified. He lunged and left himself wide open. I latched onto the arm closest to me and tore as hard as I could. The arm came off and the leech howled, immediately jumping back. He grabbed at the joint where his arm had been attached. I spit the hunk of stony flesh onto the ground and gave a wolfy grin. I saw him reassessing the situation, his eyes darting past me to get a look at her, then glancing at where I'd just spit out his whole arm. _"Just try it, bloodsucker,"_ I baited him, despite him not being able to understand me, wishing he'd come at me again, _"I'll take the other one too."_ My primary objective, of course, was to protect Sydney, but my other objective was to put this fucker in the ground and I really wanted him to give me a reason to do it.

The vamp hissed, but to my vast disappointment, didn't come at me again. I couldn't risk making the first move and leaving Sydney vulnerable, but god, I wished this leech would just fucking cave to his bloodlust and let me take him out.

"Fine," the vamp gritted out, "but I'll be back for her. And then... forever." He gave Sydney a last, longing look, and then took off, disappearing into the darkness.

I watched the road for a moment, waiting to see if he was just trying to lull me into a false sense of security and then come up and sneak attack me, but the scent of leech, while still present, was fading in his absence. I heard Sydney moving behind me, steps unsteady, but turned as she let out a sharp cry. Her face was crumpled in pain and a quick glance showed me that one of her arms was gaping open, muscles and tendons showing. _Oh, no,_ I thought as guilt assailed me. How did I not notice how bad her injury was? And she'd freaking _splattered_ _her blood on the pavement_ to distract the vampire. I nosed my way under her arm and made to support her. I kind of expected her to back away, or be scared, but she never did anything I expected her to. She grabbed onto me and buried her face into the side of my neck. "Thank you. You saved me."

 _"Don't,"_ I rasped, _"If I'd gotten here faster, you'd be okay."_

Sydney pulled back to look at me and my eyes met hers. I knew I should leave and call someone to come pick her up. I knew I should play dumb about this night ever happening because this was so not the way I wanted her to find out about me. But I couldn't. I was lost in her pretty gray-blue eyes as they stared into mine. I'd told Sydney that she was an open book back at the hospital, and she was. I saw every emotion she had play across her face. It started with confusion, slight alarm, and then realization. I saw the exact second that it all clicked into place for her. I held my breath, waiting for her to scream or faint or something. And then, unbelievably, she gave me a little sarcastic grin.

"I think there was a better way to tell me... Paul."

The sound of my name coming from her lips was almost more than I could bear. My heart skipped a beat at the affection she had in her voice, despite this crazy revelation. She didn't look disgusted, she didn't look angry - a little confused, maybe, but that was to be expected. _"I'm sorry, Syd."_

Sydney just hummed a little in reply, gently kneading her fingers in and out of my fur - it felt really good. "You can explain later" she said, simply. "But... I'm not feeling... so... good." I felt it before she began to slump down my side. I don't think I'd ever phased back as quickly as I did in that moment, managing to catch her before she slumped totally onto the pavement. She was still conscious, but barely. Her eyes were open but unseeing. Still, Sydney gave me another weak smile. "Good... catch..."

"Syd, come on," I said, shaking her gently, "you've gotta stay awake."

"Sleepy," she mumbled before going totally limp.

"Syd!" I called, my voice rising a little in panic. I shook her gently and patted her face. If I thought it would have done anything to help her, I would have smacked her across the face and then let her do whatever to me later in revenge, but she was already out. And she needed emergency medical attention. I looked at her car, but with two windows smashed and a door wrenched entirely off the car, there was no way I was going to make it to a hospital without getting stopped. Any police who saw me would have questions and I didn't have any answers that I could give that would satisfy those questions.

I was getting ready to fetch my phone from my shorts, which had dropped onto the ground about a few feet away, when headlights appeared in the distance. "Fuck," I swore, and began gathering her in my arms to hide her from the curious eyes of passersby. Before I could run away from the main road, though, a familiar pattern of footsteps caught my attention just across the road. I looked up in time to see Jake's wolf form shift into that of one of my good friends. He pulled on his shorts and ran across the road.

"That's just Quil and Embry in the car," Jake said, gesturing at the car coming down the road, which I just realized had to be going ninety miles per hour down the road. Jake came closer and stopped at the sight of Sydney's arm. "Shit, what happened to her?!" Jake asked, kneeling down beside me.

"A leech," I ground out. "He hurt her before I could get to her."

"Hand her to me," Jake said, reaching out for Sydney. I immediately pulled her back against me and growled, unwilling to let her go. "Paul," Jake warned with the sharpness of an alpha, "you need to hand her over and get your shorts on."

Reluctantly, I did as he commanded. Granted, Jake wasn't my alpha, but as he was the true alpha, it was still hard to ignore him. I was very careful not to jostle Sydney too much as I handed her over to Jake, but it wasn't easy. That arm looked terrible. I then pulled on my shorts as instructed. The car wasn't too far away now - they'd probably be here in a minute or less.

"And the leech?" Jake asked as he gingerly handed my imprint back to me.

"I took an arm, but I couldn't leave her side so he got away when he ran..." Another wave of guilt assailed me, choking me with the words in my throat. If I hadn't been playing with the bloodsucker, none of this would have happened.

Jake grasped me firmly on the shoulder, forcing me to look up at him. "It's not your fault," he said with conviction. "You got here and she's going to be fine, but we need to call Dr. Cullen."

I growled, barely noticing the car screech to a stop a short distance from Sydney's car and the driver and passenger doors opening and slamming as Quil and Embry joined us. "You want me to expose her to more vampires?" I asked with disbelief and betrayal clear in my voice. Did they really think I could do that to her? She'd almost... "After what she just went through?"

"We don't have any other choice," Jake argued.

I barked a sarcastic laugh. "The hell we don't. We could take her to the ER!"

Jake threw his phone at Embry, who just barely caught it. "Bella's number is in there. Tell her we need Carlisle right away," he ordered him, and then he turned to Quil, totally ignoring me, "go make sure the back seat is clear and then head back and tell everyone that we have her. Seth would have told Sam by now and everyone's bound to be worried." Quil nodded and took off. Jake then approached me like one would a wild animal that they weren't sure was going to bite.

I was so monumentally angry that I began shaking. "You just want to see Bella again," I accused. "She can't have a vampire doctor. Look at her!"

"PAUL!" Jake screamed, "You fucking look at her! How the hell are we going to explain how battered she is? How her arm got ripped open? How the scratches on her other arm are clearly from human fingernails? And how are we going to keep our secret if another doctor brushed up against one us like the time Claire had the flu? Remember that? They had Quil hospitalized for days. If Doctor Cullen hadn't still been at that hospital to forge the results for us and get him released, we'd already be toast."

With every point he made, my anger lessened and when he stopped, I slumped. "I just... I just want her to be okay."

"And she's going to be, but we have to go."

Embry was talking to somebody on the phone. I missed most of what was said, but I did catch, "Really? That soon? Well, we're on our way." And then he hung up and jogged back. "Bella said we called at the perfect time. They were hunting near the Canadian/Washington border and they'll be here in a half hour." I don't think he'd seen how bad Syd's arm was before because his face fell and he whispered, "Shit, Sydney."

"No time," Jake said brusquely, "we've gotta go."

Jake was right. I carried her to the car and let Embry help me maneuver her inside. Quil had thrown everything on the backseat - and Embry's backseat always had a ton of junk stuffed in it - onto the floorboard but had been nice enough to lay out a blanket for Syd and had folded up a few of Embry's tees in order to form a makeshift pillow. He'd disappeared sometimes while Jake and I had been arguing, so I knew that the rest of the pack would know we had her well in hand soon.

There weren't enough seats in front, so I ducked into the backseat and tucked myself in underneath Sydney's feet. She didn't so much as flutter a lash throughout any of this. Embry had gone digging in his trunk and came around to my side with a first aid kit. "There's some gauze in here. Maybe you can slow the bleeding."

I took it and nodded. "Thanks."

Embry ran around the car and jumped in the passengers side. The door wasn't even closed when Jake floored it.

I whispered soothing nothings to Sydney as I began to unwrap the roll of gauze and pressed it against her wound. I was both relieved and guilt ridden about the moan that escaped her when I touched it. Relieved because she could still respond to outside stimuli but I didn't like being the cause of her pain. I apologized over and over again as I applied pressure, my words eventually drawing together and becoming intelligible. I was ten kinds of torn up on the inside. I now felt I understood Sam's guilt over Emily more as, even though this was not directly my fault, I felt responsible for her pain.

I wasn't paying attention to the road and couldn't have told you how long it took, but soon we came to a stop in front of the Cullen's old house. There were lights on in the windows, so I guess they had beaten us here. Jake and Embry both jumped out of their seats. I slowly extracted myself out from under Sydney and carefully lifted her up. Embry continued to brace the gauze against her arm and Jake ran ahead of us. The door opened before he even got there, revealing Bella, golden-eyed but otherwise completely unchanged in these last four years. I saw Jake freeze for just a moment, staring at the girl he'd loved for nearly five years, but he broke out of it after only a moment. "We've got the table all set up and Carlisle is inside," Bella said by way of greeting, moving to the side so that we could bring her inside.

Embry and I rounded a corner to what might be considered a living room. The patriarch or the Cullen clan stood before a stainless steel table, to which he gestured and we softly set her down on. I noticed that Bella stood off to the side along with her daughter, Renesmee. I wondered how many of the other Cullens had made the journey back. Edward was, oddly, absent, and I doubted he'd be far from his wife and daughter.

"It was a vampire?" Carlisle asked as he began to look over her. He gently removed the wad of gauze and gave a sympathetic hiss at the sight of the deep gashes.

"Yes."

Carlisle nodded and began working quickly. "Do you know what the vampire wanted with her?" he asked as he began to flush out her wound with water. It was then that I realized why so few Cullens were physically present. The whole room filled with the scent of Sydney's blood. Even Bella, who'd been preternaturally good at controlling her thirst from her first day as a vampire stiffened a little, but relaxed half a moment later. Nessie was unfazed as was Carlisle. Dr. Fangs was good. He'd brought along the family members with the best control over their blood lust.

"I'm not entirely sure, but... I - I think he knew her," I said. I noticed Jake whip his head around at me to give me a sharp look of reprove - I hadn't disclosed this to him. "I missed most of what they said, but he said that she was his and that... that he should have ripped out her throat so that she'd have to change into a vampire."

After her wound was completely flushed out, he began stitching. His hands were so steady, so methodical, it was amazing. "And what happened to this arm?" he asked with a little gesture to emphasize the area he was working on. "This is a bit of an odd shape for a vampire related injury."

I had to smile a little before I answered with, "She pushed him. His grip on her arm was tight, so when he began to fall back, his fingers kinda... gouged a piece out."

Carlisle paused for just a moment to meet my eyes. "She pushed a vampire?"

I nodded. "I think she hit him with something, too, if the clang I heard before I got there was anything to go by."

Embry snorted. "Sounds like Syd, alright."

Carlisle looked appreciative before returning to his work of stitching Sydney back together. "Well, she sound very spirited. I'm sure once we get all this fixed up, she'll make a full recovery. I hope she doesn't mind a scar, though." He drew the thread taut and I watched her skin slowly draw together. He clipped it and started in on one of the other gashes.

"She's going to have so much fun making up stories of how she got it," Embry said with a small snort.

Yep, that sounded like my Sydney. I wondered how we were going to explain this whole night to her parents - how she got injured, why she didn't come home... I couldn't send her home until we had a discussion about the importance of secrecy regarding... well, pretty much everything she'd seen tonight. If she told anyone about a werewolf, we were toast and if she said anything about vampires, she'd be toast. I didn't think she was stupid, she probably already knew that she couldn't say anything, but she needed to know the consequences.

Carlisle finished stitching her up and then laid a large bandage over it. "Have her change this often. The wound is still probably going to weep for a while and it needs to be kept sanitary. The stitches will dissolve on their own, but I will still come back to look at it in a couple weeks if you like." Carlisle turned to me and offered a hand. I didn't hesitate when I took it.

"Thank you, Dr. Cullen," I said with the utmost sincerity.

He gave me a genial smile, but both of us looked up in the next second when there was a groan from above. What the...? Bella darted out of the room as another groan sounded and Nessie followed at a much slower pace than her mother. Edward appeared at the bottom of the stairs, holding onto his head and looking pained. "Edward!" Bella exclaimed, wrapping her arms around her husband, "What's going on?"

"It's not me," Edward ground out. "It's her. She's dreaming and it's... terrible."

Everyone's eyes landed on Sydney. She wasn't moving, but her face was crumpled into a frown and a cold sweat had broken across her brow. I rushed to her side and gently brushed her hair away from her face, only to be horrified by the bruise that had formed across her neck. I could clearly see the imprint of all five fingers and the vague shape of his palm. If I hadn't seen a tear falling from the corner of her eye, I might have exploded in rage at how he'd abused her, but that tear brought me back. I gently wiped it away with my thumb. "Sydney, honey, you need to wake up."

"Carlisle, she needs to wake up _NOW_!" Edward bellowed from behind me.

Embry pushed past me and gave me an apologetic look. "Try not to hate me, man," he said. I was guarded as I watched but couldn't have guessed what he'd do next. He raised a hand and brought it down on the shallower set of cuts on her left arm with a loud smacking sound.

How I might hate his methods, but it worked. Sydney's eyes flew open with a pained gasp and she sat up quickly, eyes wild and unseeing as she worked to shake herself of her nightmares. She blinked a few times before her eyes focused on me. I wasn't sure what her reaction was going to be - would she scream? Would she yell at me? Would she never want to see me again? But she merely wrapped her good arm around me and breathed in deeply. "Paul," she whimpered. I instinctively wrapped my arms around her, careful not to jostle the newly stitched one.

"It's okay, Syd. It's okay," I murmured to her, smoothing her hair gently as I soothed her. "I'm here for you."

"You promise?"

"Promise."


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N:** **I'm proud of my recent progress on this story. I've written four chapters in a very short amount of time.**

Chapter 9: The Truth is Stranger Than Fiction

 _"So... vampires..."_

* * *

The blond gentleman, who'd been introduced to me as Carlisle Cullen, had finished giving me care instructions for my arm and said he'd send someone by the next day with some pills to help manage pain. "I could give you a prescription now, but seeing as my family moved away two years ago, that might be a little suspicious," he'd chuckled with a friendly twinkle in his eyes. I was having a hard time looking away from his eyes at all, in fact. They were such a beautiful golden color, they were mesmerizing. The man and the woman who stood off to the side, occasionally whispering to each other - Edward and Bella, I thought I'd heard them called - shared this molten golden color. The fourth in the group of strangers, a doll-like girl who looked maybe fifteen, was the only one who didn't share this color, with her eyes being a deep brown.

As we got ready to go, I stuck my hand out to shake the doc's. He took it gently and shook it. "Thank you so much, Dr. Cullen," I said before sliding down off the table. I wobbled a little, still a little unsteady from my blood loss. Both the doctor and Paul reached out to steady me at once.

"It was my pleasure, Ms. LeHaye," Carlisle responded, once he was sure I was steady. Paul still kept a steadying hand on me. "I will be back to check on your healing progress in about three weeks, providing that's alright with you, Jacob."

Jake gave a single nod. I decided not to ask why he needed Jake's permission just this second. I filed it away with the rest of my million and one questions I was going to ask Paul once we were alone. Also in that file was the obvious - you can turn into a fucking wolf?! - and why Jake kept sneaking glances at Bella when he thought no one was looking. I sensed something off there.

Paul was holding my hand tightly as we said our goodbyes. I felt like Edward was looking through me when he gave me a little smile and said, "Good luck, Sydney."

Bella and Jake shared a quick, semi-tense hug and Jake gave the younger woman a little knock on the chin. "Be good, Ness."

" _You_ be good, Uncle Jake," she replied with a bright smile, playfully shoving his arm away.

Uncle Jake? Another question to pop into the ever-growing file. A surprising amount of those questions were about Jake, specifically. Why was everyone treating Jake like an authority figure all of a sudden? Why was Jake being so awkward? What was up with him and that Bella chick? How was he an "uncle" to this teen girl who was pale as snow? He was only 21.

Embry, who'd been pretty quiet throughout all this, led the way out of the house and jumped into the drivers seat without much of a glance backwards. I gave a questioning glance to Paul who merely shrugged. Apparently he didn't know what his problem was either. Jake took the other front seat, leaving Paul and I in the back. That suited me just fine. His unusual warmth was really comforting right now since I just couldn't seem to warm up. He helped me slide into the back seat and followed me, not even letting me buckle myself in right now. It was sweet how careful he was being, but I wasn't a fragile doll.

Embry adjusted his rear view mirror so that he could see us in it. "Where do you want me to drop you guys off?"

I was about to say, "I just want to go home," when Paul interjected with, "My apartment, please." He must have seen my confused look since he turned to me and said, "We need to talk and I think we could use some... erm... privacy."

I wanted to moan and groan and say I was tired, could we do this tomorrow, but I saw the seriousness on his face. And did I really want to wait till morning for answers? No, not truly. So I nodded my acquiescence. "Yeah, your place is fine," I said for Embry's benefit.

The ride back to La Push was really quiet. Really, the only time the silence was broken was when Jake received a call and he answered a bunch of questions. "Yes, she's fine... Some lacerations high on her right arm but Dr. Cullen was in the area... No, they're not coming back to stay, though he's visiting in a few weeks to look over her again... I'm not sure... Dude, it's been a long night, can you hound me with questions later?... Yes, Bella was there, you unbelievable asshole... I'm hanging up now." He hit end on his phone screen and shoved the phone into his pocket with an irritated huff.

Embry pulled up in front of Paul's apartment complex without so much as a word. Paul got out, seeming nonplussed. I was slower to follow and whispered, "Bye, Embry." I saw him glace at me in the mirror again, but he didn't say anything or acknowledge my farewell in any way. I felt pain slice through my heart at his tight-lipped rejection, but just followed Paul. There would be time to sort out what was going on with my best friend later.

The car pulled out of the drive after we'd exited. Jake rolled down his window to wave goodbye, and I returned the gesture before they turned and drove out of sight. Paul took my hand in his again and gave me a reassuring smile. "Let's get you inside."

I nodded, smiling a little in return. I'd never been to Paul's apartment before so he had to lead me up a flight of stairs and to the apartment marked '14'. I didn't really know what to expect, despite feeling pretty familiar with Paul by this point. Would it be messy bachelor pad? Would it be nice and tidy? Would it look like his mom had picked everything out for him? I was surprised, but also not, to see that his apartment was neat but lived in. There wasn't clothes or food littered everywhere, but there was a Playstation remote on the coffee table, some dishes in the sink and a blanket lightly wadded up on the couch. There was a couch and love-seat, both deep brown, and a somewhat antique looking coffee table. The kitchen was teeny tiny and there was a small table in the dining area that was currently doubling as a desk as papers were scattered across it and a laptop was lying closed on the surface.

It was really homey looking. "Nice place," I complimented.

"Oh, yeah," he said, like had only just occurred to him that this was the first time I'd be seeing his home, "I forgot I've never brought you here before. Well, make yourself at home. Do you want anything to drink?"

I gingerly sat down on the love-seat and called out, "Just water, please."

He looked at me skeptically from the kitchen. "Just water?" he asked, to which I nodded. "I was certain you were going to ask for coffee, you addict."

I rolled my eyes. "Well now that you mention it, hand over the liquid crack."

Paul smiled at me and I smiled back, glad some of the tension had melted between us. I heard the pot brewing and could hear him messing around with something in there. In a very sweet gesture, he brought me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich cut into triangles. "Thanks," I murmured as he set the sandwich and the mug in front of me and set his own double-decker sandwich down in front of him on the coffee table. "So, I guess we should just... jump right in." I continued to gaze at him as I took a bite of my PB&J.

He sighed deeply. "Yeah, I guess that's the best way... Uh, I'm not really sure where to start."

"Hmm, how about the fact that you were a giant fucking wolf a few hours ago and now you're just a really tall dude?" I suggested, coming off as a little more sarcastic than I totally meant to. It's not like he'd wanted this conversation to go down this way - he'd outright told me that his secret was pretty big and that he wasn't sure how to explain. However, the cat was out of the bag now and I was due my explanation.

Paul averted his gaze. "Fair enough. Well, er... The legends of our tribe say that we're descended from wolves... Turns out that's a little more literal than most people would have thought..."

My eyes nearly popped out of my damn skull. "You're telling me this whole reservation can turn into wolves?" I squeaked.

"No, no, no," he hurried to correct, "not nearly that many. Just the pack members - all the guys, plus Leah, anyway." That actually made a fair amount of sense, actually. I couldn't quite imagine 5'2" Claire shifting into a giant wolf, nor model-esque Kim, but Leah... yeah, I could see it. "Anyway, as I was saying, we are supposedly descended from wolves, and when our natural enemies turn up, the Cold Ones, some of us, mostly youngins who aren't fully matured yet, will start popping teeth and fangs."

I took a long swig of my coffee as I processed this. "Cold Ones?" I repeated, to which he nodded. "Is that a code for... for vampires?" Even saying the word out loud made me uncomfortable. If I had not seen Cade with my own eyes tonight, I never would have believed anyone who told me vampires were real, so acknowledging that word as something of fact and not fiction damn near set my whole world on its head.

Paul nodded again. "Yes."

I sensed that he had questions of his own about the attack tonight, but he was being considerate enough to realize that it wasn't his turn to ask questions. "So... vampires," I said, feeling breathless. The word felt foreign and weird and I didn't like it. "Are there... are there a lot of them? Are they all like Cade?"

"Cade?" Paul immediately picked up the thread I'd been on. "Was that his name? Sydney, did you know him?"

"Paul," I said, a little hysteria rising in my voice, much to my chagrin, "not now."

He seemed to shake himself. "Right, yeah, sorry." He cleared his throat and continued on, "I wouldn't say there are a lot of them - more than I'd like, certainly, but I think its safe to say I'm a little biased." Paul chuckled a little, and I cracked a smile too, despite feeling so tightly wound I thought I might explode. "And to answer your other question, no, they aren't all like - like Cade." He paused for a second and made an odd face, as if just saying the name had left a bad taste in his mouth. "You met some of the better ones this evening - the Cullen family are "vegetarian" vampires," he said, using heavy air quotes around the word vegetarian.

I'd thought to Cullens were off - too pretty, too perfect, and it had been really weird that they all shared the exact same golden eyes. But it was better than the blood red that had been in Cade's. "Vegetarian meaning...?" I prompted when he didn't resume his train of thoughts.

"They subsist off animal blood instead of humans. Anyhow, our tribe has long held an uneasy truce with them, but five years ago, when Bella was still human, we joined forces with the Cullens to protect her and the adjoining areas from a newborn army - newborn vampires are strong and vicious - and then again when there was a threat to her and Edward's half vampire baby." He rolled his eyes like it was just a minor inconvenience.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" I exclaimed, feeling rather blindsided by that information dump. "What the fuck? Vampires can have babies with humans?"

"Not easily," Paul said. "Bella nearly died."

"Wait, you said that Bella was still human five years ago?" I clarified and he nodded in confirmation. "So that girl we saw tonight was, what? Four? She looked fifteen! How the hell does that work?"

Paul shrugged. "I'm not a vampire biologist. That's just the way Ness was born. Bells was only pregnant maybe... three months? Maybe not even that."

I paused for a moment in my line of questioning to eat a triangle of my sandwich. I guess I had no right to expect that he knew the inns and outs of all things vampire. I took biology and I didn't know everything about how the human body worked - and I didn't think they had a class called Vampire 101. So, even though I wanted a more specific answer, I suppose, 'that's just how she was born' would suffice. Still, I couldn't believe that the girl was only 4 years old. That's crazy. "So... Jake and Bella?" I prodded, deciding that was the next thing I was most curious about.

Paul relaxed a fraction and laughed. "Oh, Bella and Jake. Bella fell in with vampires before I knew her and fell for her now husband, Edward, about as hard as anything I've ever seen. He decided to leave her for her own protection or whatever and she started hanging out with Jake. They became best friends and Jake fell for her. Jake's been head over heels ever since and despite the vamp coming back and her having been married for four years now, not to mention that she's a vampire herself, he still can't seem to let it go."

"Was it ever mutual?" I asked, curious.

Paul seemed to think about that for a second. "Hmm, I think so, for a little while. Maybe if the bloodsucker hadn't ever come back, Jake and Bells would be married by now," he shrugged, like it wasn't really important. "Bella made her choice and she seems happy. Jake just needs to move on."

That seemed like a fair assessment. I took another swig of coffee, and thought about what seemed most pressing in my mind. It wasn't like Paul was going anywhere, but my brain was bursting with more pressing matters. I wanted to ask about Sam and Emily's babies and if, in a few years, they'd start 'popping teeth and fangs' as he'd so eloquently put it, but I also didn't want to know the answer to that question. The imagined flash of our future was still weighing too heavily on me and if the answer was yes, I'd have to think about what all that meant for Paul and I's still really new relationship - not even relationship, really. We hadn't made anything official. I pushed that line of questioning aside because it made my stomach heave.

Eventually, I settled on, "So... why did Carlisle ask Jake's permission to come back and check on me?" That seemed like a relatively safe route to take.

"Ah, yes, I need to familiarize you with pack structure," he said, sitting up and rubbing his hands together like we'd just gotten to something good. "So, as you may know, in the wild, there are wolf packs and they are generally run by an Alpha. Same concept, though with a slight twist. We have two alphas and two packs and we just cooperate as if we're one. Sam is the alpha of the pack I am in, and was the original alpha before the pack split into two. Jake runs the other pack."

"Why did the pack split?" I asked, confused. They all seemed so close.

Paul gave me a look, like the answer should be obvious. "Bella," he said with a roll of his eyes. "You see, in our pack structure, alpha's orders are obeyed, whether we like it or not. When Bella became pregnant, we had no idea what to expect and, under Sam's order, we were prepared to kill her and the baby." I took in a sharp breath, surprised by the callousness that Sam, a father of two and loving husband had been capable of. Paul leaned over and put a hand on my knee, "We thought we would be saving people from a bloodthirsty monster unlike anything we'd ever known. Believe me, we thought it was the best option." His eyes bore into mine, begging me to understand.

I took a deep breath. "I do believe you," I replied sincerely. Despite the secrets and everything, I still knew these people and none of them would have done something like that without cause. "So, what happened next?"

"Jake comes from a long line of alphas and would be considered the 'true' alpha. He'd turned down the position of alpha at first, but refused to be ordered into killing Bella. He challenged Sam and broke off, forming his own pack. Seth followed, also believing that killing Bella would be wrong and Leah followed, too - not because she thought they were right but because she saw an opportunity to get away from Sam and their split was still pretty fresh at the time. They worked tirelessly to mislead us about when the baby was born and by the time the rest of us were clued in, Bella was a vampire, Ness already looked about one year old and it was pretty clear that all of our fears had been unfounded. After all that was solved, Embry and Quil joined Jake's pack, the rest of us stayed with Sam and so it's been for the last four years.

"Carlisle asked Jake if it was okay to come see you mostly out of politeness. Anytime the Cullens are in the area, they have to alert us for the sake of keeping positive relations."

I nodded. "I guess that makes sense."

We discussed things for a while longer. He told me more about pack structure, how they could communicate with each other while they were in wolf form, how it felt when you tried to fight an alphas order. He told me anecdotes about Bella's human days and the early days of the pack - my favorite was when Bella sprained her hand by punching Jacob for kissing her. He told me how he'd been the third to phase and how it was so weird watching each and every member who phased after him. "I wanted to help them," he explained, "but until they actually phased, we couldn't tell them anything but weird cryptic bullshit."

"Like the weird cryptic bullshit you gave me?" I teased. He smiled and lightly shoved me.

We must have talked for hours. Everything was getting easier. I finally let him ask a few questions about Cade after most of my own questions had been answered. How we'd dated briefly when I was a sophomore before I'd quite standard schooling, how he'd stalked me a little bit afterwards but eventually gone radio silent about two years ago. Paul growled and a weird chill went down my spine at the sound - not scared but excited - and said, "He probably stopped because he got turned and didn't need to stalk you online anymore."

Well, I definitely hadn't considered that before. The thought horrified me. "You think?"

"I think," he responded with finality.

And then, finally, Paul told me about what happened to Emily. He told me with this odd, quasi-guilty look on his face about how just once, Em had stood too close to Sam when he was angry and when he shifted, he'd hurt her. He'd scarred her forever. And now I knew why whenever Sam saw Em and came to kiss her in greeting, he always started with her scars first. I reached out and grabbed Paul's hand. "You were all young and so new to all this," I said with as much empathy as I could, "it was an accident."

Paul grasped my hand in return, like it was a lifeline. "He still feels guilty, and until recently, I couldn't understand why, but..." He brushed my dark hair away from my face. I could feel the blush spreading over my cheeks. "Sydney, there's one more thing I have to tell you about."

 _Oh, god_ , I thought to myself. Was he about to make some huge confession? It was too soon, too much, too fast. I needed someone to put a pause button on life right this second and then give me another week to think about all this. After all this wolf stuff, was he really about to say 'I love you' for the first time? When had he even had time to decide that? Oh no, no, no, no. I might actually explode.

I knew Paul was reading all this play out of my face. His eyes searched mine, but I don't think he found anything definitive there. Regardless, he pushed on. "There's something called... called imprinting. It's what happens when a wolf meets their... I guess the best way to put it is their soul mate." My internal monologue began ramping up the mantra of 'oh, no' it had been playing. Tell me you're a werewolf? Fine! Tell me my ex is a vampire? Okay. But do not tell me that I am your soul mate. Not yet. Oh, god, not yet. "It's like, when you see her, she's everything. Gravity moves and it's her holding you to this earth and you'd do and be anything she needed. Sam and Emily are imprinted. Jared and Kim are imprinted. Quil and Claire are imprinted. And you and I-"

"Please!" I yelped, begging him to stop. "I know where this is going and please just... don't say it."

Raw pain fell over his face before he could mask it. It hurt me to hurt him like this, but this was too much and I was freaking out. A second later, Paul's face clouded over, becoming unreadable and he gave a single nod. "Okay." It was curt, it was polite, and it was so unlike him that it hurt my heart. He began to gather up the dishes and took them into the kitchen.

I was left on the love-seat, feeling lost. I wanted to reach out to him, to tell him that I liked him but that this was all moving crazy fast and couldn't we just slow down for a minute. Yesterday we weren't even in an official relationship and today we were soulmates? How? How does that even happen? Though according to him, it had been that way for the last month and a half we'd known each other. He just hadn't known how to tell me. Which I could totally understand - I was not handling this part of the equation well at all. I wondered how the other imprinted girls felt about all of this - and then suddenly, I had my answer.

"I need to talk to Emily."

Paul nodded. "I'll take you over first thing in the morning. You can use my bed and get a few hours of shut eye until then."

~Forever and Always~

Paul must have let Sam or Em know we were on our way because when I got there, there were muffins still hot from the oven and fresh coffee laid out of the table and the eldest pack member plus the babies were mysteriously absent. Paul gave Em a quick kiss on the cheek when we got there, grabbed a muffin and left without so much as a backward glance at me. That stung. He hadn't said more than the bare minimum to me all morning.

"He's not mad, Sydney," Em said softly, having noticed the way I kept staring at the back door he'd disappeared through. "He's trying to make this easier on you."

"By ignoring me?" I asked, picking at the wrapper on the muffin she'd set down in front of me.

"By giving you space," she corrected, her voice still gentle but firm. "You asked him not to talk about it but, Syd, it's the _only_ thing he wants to talk about. His silence is not a punishment - it is him doing the best he can to respect your wishes."

On some level, I already knew that. I knew Paul wasn't angry - hurt, sure, feeling rejected, yes, but I knew he wasn't _angry_ at me. "I guess you're right," I huffed, picking a little piece of my muffin top off and tossing it in my mouth. "I just feel so overwhelmed. Yesterday, I was a girl and he was a guy and we were maybe about to start dating. Today, we're cosmically bound together and oh, by the way, he's a werewolf."

Em choked a little bit on her coffee. "I'm sorry, _maybe_ about to start dating? Sydney, what did you think happened two weeks ago?"

I blushed a little. "I thought that was just him letting me know he was interested," I stumbled, only just now considering that it might have been something more. Em gave me an incredulous look, so I hurried to defend myself; "Hey, it's not like he ever asked me out or anything!"

"You guys went to the movies last week!" she argued.

"That wasn't a date!" I argued back, but then I stopped when Emily raised an eyebrow at me. Oh, my god. It totally was a date. I am the most inept dumbass that has ever walked this earth. I slumped back in my chair and dragged my fingers down my face. "Ohhhh, well then why didn't he say anything? It didn't sound like he was asking me _out_. He just said, hey, you wanna go see this movie? I heard it's really good."

Emily was looking at me like I was a dumbass too. It's fair. I deserve it. "And that didn't clue you in?"

"No!" I burst. "I've never really dated before. I had one boyfriend in high school but aside from that, I've only ever made out with a couple guys at parties! And by the way, the last boy I dated is trying to kill me now, so I obviously have excellent taste in men." I irritably swiped my bangs from my eyes and noticed that it looked like Emily was trying not to laugh. "This is not funny," I told her with a frown.

Em straightened up and schooled her facial expression into a serious mask, but I could still see her eye twinkling. "No, not funny at all," she agreed, but it was ruined by the fact that she cracked a smile at the end. I couldn't help smiling in response. Soon, we were both laughing at the absurdity. Of all the things we could be talking about right now, after this absolutely life-changing revelation, we were debating about whether Paul and I were already dating or not. After the laughter died down and we both sobered a little, Emily continued with, "Listen, Syd. Paul's mostly about actions. The holding of your hands, putting an arm around your shoulder, the little kisses - those were all him telling you how important you were to him. You feel like this is sudden, but it's not, not really - it's been building since he first met you."

I sighed, processing all that. I mean, she was right. Just because I was a dense motherfucker didn't mean Paul hadn't been making an effort. "Yeah, okay," I acquiesced. "I guess we have been dating for two weeks, even if I wasn't aware, but I'm not ready to declare undying love. It's too fast!"

Emily gave me a warm, understanding grin. "Now that, I totally understand. It doesn't hit us the same way it hits them, and that's okay. It's part of the process, even. Claire and I both went through exactly what you're going through now. Hell, Sam was dating Leah when he shifted and when he met me, and from my perspective, he just threw the relationship aside. My cousin's ex, who she was still crying over and who had left her for seemingly no reason, was suddenly trying to woo me instead. It was weird! And then he told me about the wolf stuff and I thought he was insane. I wouldn't even talk to him for weeks." She shook her head, but there was a little smile on her face. "He finally showed me and we started dating. And then, the accident happened," she paused and gestured to her face, which still bore the scars from years earlier. "Oddly enough, it was after the accident that I knew. The way he doted on me, the way he tore himself up, the way he tried to make up for it every day... that was how I knew."

My heart lightened at her story. "So... it's okay that I want to take things slow?" I asked tentatively. She'd implied as much but I needed the validation badly.

"Of course," Em said, "that's kind of the cool thing about being an imprint; the vast majority of the time, things work out on our time tables. Something about the imprint just makes them... extra understanding, I guess."

That was reassuring and yeah, a little bit of a perk.

"However," Emily amended, a lot of the mirth disappearing from her face, "because the imprint hits them harder than us, we, as imprints, need to take it upon ourselves to make sure that we don't override their needs with our wants." My pulse skyrocketed again because I knew where this was probably going. "This isn't a condemnation, Syd," Emily said, a little sarcastic pull twitching at the corner of her mouth, "you didn't know, you were overwhelmed and I'm not judging you at all. But shutting off honest, open communication when he'd been waiting so long to tell you was one of those instances. And you do owe him a chance to explain without fear that you'll pull another runner."

I sighed. "Yeah, you're right. That _was_ selfish. I'll fix things with him soon." I just hope he'll forgive me.

"It won't be hard to fix things," Emily said, her smile returning to her face. I wondered if she could read minds or if my face was just really that open of a book. "But, that's a problem for later. Today is going to be a girl's day. Claire will be here after school, Kim's out of town for a family reunion, so she'll just have to catch the next girl's day and Leah's making faces at the back of your head as we speak."

I whipped around in my seat to see Leah, who's lips were pulled back and jaw was wide open in an odd but impressive display of her teeth. She paused upon being caught and met my eyes before slowly letting the weird face turn into a grin. "Hey, Sydney. Heard the beans got spilled."

"Yeah, along with about two pints of my blood," I said sarcastically. If anyone could appreciate my dark humor, it was Leah. I got up and went to wrap my arms around her in a tight hug which she returned with no hesitation. "I'm happy to see you, wolf girl," I whispered in her ear.

"One of us, one of us," she chanted softly in mine as a response. I giggled and pulled out of the hug. She did as well and gave me a friendly slug on the arm. I nearly passed out from the amount of pain that coursed up said arm and made a weird keening noise. "Oh, shit, Syd!" Leah exclaimed, reaching out to catch me when I actually almost wobbled off my feet. Little stars burst in front of my eyes for half a second before I regained myself, blinking. "I'm sorry," Leah began, her face drawn in apology, "I forgot-"

"It's okay," I cut her off, taking a sharp breath in and then slowly releasing it. "I hope the Doc gets those painkillers down to me soon," I said to the room at large, once I was once again standing completely under my own power.

"I believe there was already a drop arranged and Claire will be bringing them with her," Em said. I looked at her with brows raised, wondering how on earth that had come to be so quickly. Emily gave a small smile in return. "He may not be happy with the situation at the moment, but he's not about to let you suffer longer than absolutely necessary."

My chest warmed. I didn't deserve Paul's caring nature.

Em, Leah and I sat around, waiting for Claire to get out of school. Kim called and let us know that she and Jared were coming home early - things had gone sour with her family, as Jared predicted - so she'd be by later tonight for the big "Imprint talk." I didn't know what she meant by that, but based on Em's face, I felt that I was in for something juicy.

Leah lounged in her chair, head propped on her hand lazily. "You're telling me you seriously didn't know that Paul liked you for a full month? That boy was at your beck and call!"

Emily laughed. "She didn't realize they were dating for the last two weeks, either."

Leah's jaw dropped. "Really?!" she exclaimed, and then promptly burst into a fit of giggles that almost made her roll out of the chair. "Oh my god, how didn't you know?! We _all_ knew!"

My face flamed from embarrassment and I angrily bit into another muffin. "Can we not go through this again?" I grumbled.

"Fat chance!" Leah was far too delighted by my chagrin so I threw a pillow at her. Her reflexes were good, though, and she caught it, giving me a wolfish grin. I narrowed my eyes at her. "I'll wait until both Claire and Kim are here so you only have to go through it once more?" she offered.

Sensing it was the best offer I was going to get, I nodded.

Despite the mockery, even with the secret out, I was still so, so, so comfortable around Leah and Emily. Leah was a mythological supernatural being and Em had knowingly married and born the children of one, but they were were still just... Leah and Emily. Em still made the best muffins I'd ever tasted and Leah still liked to tease me and get under my skin. In truth, the wolf thing barely even phased me. I guess I was just defective.

Morning turned to afternoon and then to evening. Claire came in around four and promptly burst into tears because Em was redressing my arm for me and it looked bad. Like, really bad. There was room for argument that I'd gotten into a nasty fight with a wolverine. She dropped my her back pack and my pills on the ground and ran up to me, wrapping her arms around my neck in a tight hug. "Sydney, I'm so glad you're okay!" she sobbed. I awkwardly patted her on the back for a little while before Leah peeled her off me, still sniffling.

After Claire calmed down, we sat down and watched a movie together - something with Channing Tatum to make her feel better - to pass the time until Kim got there. I knew they were all anxious to get down to the wolf talk. I was also feeling much better since Claire had come bearing painkillers and they were doing the lord's work.

Kim didn't arrive at the house till almost seven and, I noticed, she arrived in her own car, sans Jared. It was then that I realized that the male wolves had been banished. I mean, I knew it was a girls day, but Jared not even stopping in or driving Kim here - Kim hated driving with a passion - suggested there might be some sort of threat on all their lives involved. I frowned softly to myself. They didn't have to stay away just for my sake...

Kim settled down in the circle of chairs and relayed that after a certain remark by one of her older second cousins, in which they called Kim a "mulatto" she and Jared had decided to come home early, as their racist asses weren't worth their time. I totally agreed and was glad she was able to make it for story time.

"So, before we get to the stories, have I got something to tell you!" Leah said, rubbing her hands together like a cartoon villain. I rolled my eyes, but didn't protest because she had kept her word and not brought it up till now. "Sydney wasn't sure Paul liked her until two weeks ago."

Kim raised one perfectly waxed brow at me. "Really?"

Claire snorted. "There's no way. His crush was visible from space."

I carefully kept my eyes centered on a spot on the carpet and kept my face as neutral as I could, but I could feel my cheeks heating up. Traitorous blood vessels. After a moment in which they waited for my denial, both broke into giggles, soon joined by Leah and even Emily couldn't hold back a chuckle or two. "It's not that funny," I grumbled, petulantly folding my arms across my chest and frowning.

"Oh, yes, it is!" Leah disagreed. "And, that's not even the best part. She also didn't realize that she and Paul have been dating." The giggled resumed.

I rolled my eyes. "Arguable, but okay."

Kim shook her head. "No, Syd, not arguable. You and Paul doubled with Jared and I, like, three days ago."

I felt my eyes go wide and I whipped my head up to look at her with disbelief. "Oh, my god, we did!" I hadn't realized it was a double date until now, but it totally was. We went to Port Angeles, had a nice dinner and even went and bowled afterwards, in couple teams. I let my head sink into my hands. "I'm an idiot," I moaned.

"It's okay," Leah assured, leaning over to pat me on my shoulder. "You're our idiot."

I scoffed and playfully smacked the hand she was patting me with away, but cracked a smile. Yeah, I guess I _was_ their idiot.

Kim clapped to get out attention. "Ladies, it's time to impart our knowledge to the newest imprint!" she announced, like this was a grand ceremony. It wasn't. We were eating junk food in Em's living room and I was in borrowed jammies, not a gown. "Em, as the first imprint in the pack, you get first dibs!"

Em's smile was a little sly. "While we all know it is important not to abuse our respective wolf's devotion, but I have to admit, winning arguments is the simplest thing in the world. Sam wanted to name Nicholas Geoffrey. A stout refusal and waiting him out was all it took. He wanted to move to a bigger house, but I really like this one, so I insisted on addition instead... and well, we're still here and he's been talking to a contractor."

"He'd better be," I said teasingly. "Because I know you didn't have Seth and I paint that mural only to sell this place."

Em giggled. "Touche. Anyway, if you can outlast the puppy eyes during an argument, you're pretty much guaranteed to come out the winner. Anyway, that's all for me. Kim? You were the second, so it seems only fair that you go next."

Kim sighed, a little dreamily. "There's nothing like the love of a wolf." The other two women, and even Leah, nodded at that. "Jared was my third boyfriend when we got together. The first two were fine, treated me well. The first one and I broke up because he left for the University of Montana and the second one and I just didn't have enough in common to keep it going long term. Perfectly nice guys and I'd even classify them both as good boyfriends, but Jared's love is just... otherworldly in comparison. If our shifts clash and I can't see him all day, he sends me sweet texts and pictures with funny faces. He'll come see me when I'm on my break at work, even though I know he's dead tired and just wants to sleep, and..." she trailed off, a little mischievous grin creeping over her features, "he may or may not have punched the cousin who called me a Mulatto."

"I still can't believe they called you that," Leah scoffed, "you're not even the right race for that slur. Such laziness."

"Bigots," Kim said with a shrug. "What can you do? Anyway, Claire?"

"Life is never boring," Claire said simply. "Everyday with Quil is new and exciting. It never feels stale. It feels like... like he falls in love with me all over again, ever day."

I could tell by Emily's face that she didn't fully agree and even Kim's expression was a little strained. I had a feeling it was because Claire wasn't really... I guess qualified, is the word I'd use, to say that. She and Quil were still a month or so shy of their one year anniversary, so of course it was still new - they were largely still getting to know one another. I let it slide, though, not wanting this to devolve into a fight. Claire could be a little petulant about being the baby of the group sometimes.

I wasn't expecting Leah to say anything, but she leaned forward and looked at me, her expression serious, for once. "I know I haven't imprinted or been imprinted on, so I can't speak about my personal experience with that, but I do have one thing - a direct line to Paul's thoughts. Syd... he cares about you. So, so much. I mean, sure, he imprinted on you that first night at the barbecue, but he also started falling for you on his own."

I could feel my eyes prick with the beginning of tears. "He did?" I asked, hating how hesitant and unsure I sounded. I hadn't wanted to tell anyone that part of the reason that imprinting scared me so much wasn't just because it seemed so fast and serious - though that was the biggest part of it - but also because it seemed like... like he didn't have a choice but to love me. And I liked him a lot, could easily see it turning into love, but I didn't want any of it if I wasn't his choice.

Leah gave me a warm smile and gave a little nod. "Yes. He can't get over your spirit, your sense of humor, your strength. He thinks about you all the time and I know he's happy about the imprint."

Hope swelled in my chest at her words, but my brows furrowed in confusion. "Doesn't he have to be happy about it?" I asked, confounded, "I mean, imprinting isn't a choice and Paul said it's like he was tethered to me at first sight. I'm paraphrasing, but that's the gist."

The mood in the room turned somber and all the women in the room exchanged looks, as if silently debating whether to tell me something. I was just about to insist that they stop with all the secret keeping because I was tired and I was injured and I just needed everything out in the open when Emily spoke; "There have been a few instances in the past where either an imprint or a wolf resisted the bond. It is... not unheard of for an imprint to merely result in friendship instead of a romantic relationship." She didn't meet my gaze and shifted in her seat, as if admitting it made her uncomfortable.

"It's uncommon though!" Claire hastened to add.

Kim nodded, twisting her fingers in her lap. "Very uncommon," she agreed. Leah stayed silent.

I blinked and looked around the room at all the down turned lips. "Were... were you guys afraid that if I knew that I could reject the imprint, I would just... give up on my relationship with Paul?" I asked, utterly befuddled.

Claire bit her lip, but nodded. Kim gave sort of a half shrug, still fiddling with her fingers. Emily and Leah said nothing.

I took a pillow and tossed it at Em, who jumped in surprise. " _YOU,_ " I began with heavy emphasis, "should have known better. Didn't we just go over it this morning? My exact feelings on this matter? You're as dense as me!" To punctuate this statement, I grabbed another pillow and tossed it at her. This one she managed to bat away, but I was already tossing a handful of popcorn at Leah and Kim. "And you two should know me better than that!"

Em's mouth gaped and she stuttered for a moment. "You didn't know everything this morning. I-I didn't know if this would change anything..."

I waved her off. "Yeah, that's in character for me," I intoned with great sarcasm. "Screw my budding relationship with this great guy. I'm totally going to give up at the very first problem that arises, even though it's something he can't help." I picked up another handful of popcorn and tossed it at all of them. "Jeez, have more faith in me."

A little smile had started to tug at Claire's lips. "So... what are you going to do?"

I didn't have to think about it very hard. I stood and brushed the crumbs off my front. "Well, I think it's time that I go make up with _my boyfriend._ " I winked and turned on heel. The girls broke out into squeals which spurred me on as I ran out the door. I didn't care that my hair was a mess or that I was in Emily's pajama pants and a baggy t-shirt or about the fact that it was starting to rain even harder than the standard Washington drizzle. Some part of me thought it was going to be like a movie, I guess, and so I was a little surprised not to find him waiting for me. Realizing that was ridiculous, I quickly recovered and cupped my hands around my mouth, calling out with all my might, "PAUL!"

I waited for a response, breathless. I thought I heard a cracking noise and whipped my head around to stare at the treeline, but there was no one there. My smile began to fall and my heartbeat slowed. "Paul!" I tried again. I was so sure he'd be close by. It hadn't even occurred to me that he might not hear.

A lump rose in my throat, hot and molten. Dejection washed through me as surely as the rain washed over me, soaking me through. My pajamas stuck to me, my hair was slowly sagging out of its loose tie, and my toes sunk into the muddying ground. My arms fell to my side and I bowed my head, desperately trying not to let the hot tears that were pricking at my eyes again fall. This was humiliating and I couldn't find the strength to turn around and go back inside. I knew the girls were peaking through the window, probably feeling bad for me. So I stood in the rain, unable to make a move. I was sure Kim or Leah would run out here soon and grab me, but for now, I stayed put and held onto my dignity just for a little bit longer. I pressed my eyes shut, still unwilling to cry. The tears spilled anyway.

The only sound was that of the rain. I could hear the sharper sounds as it hit the metal roof of Em's car and the duller sounds as it struck the ground and the pavement. To my horror, I let out a single sob, breaking the tranquility of the rainfall.

"Sydney, don't cry," a familiar voice breathed as a gentle touch brushed against my face. My eyes sprang open and I whipped my head up to see Paul. He was shirtless - how could I expect anything else? - clad only in jean shorts that were just about as wet as my pajamas. His short hair stuck to his forehead and the sides of his face with the rain. Giving me an uncertain glance, he began to drop his hand away from my face, like he wasn't sure he was allowed to touch me.

I grabbed his hand before it could fall to his side and held it tightly with both of my own. "You- You weren't listening?" I asked. I kind of hoped he had been. I didn't want to go through it all again. I just wanted the big romantic moment and for things to be okay again.

Paul met my gaze steadily, but gently. "I didn't think you'd want me to."

Internally I swore, but externally, I did my best to smile. "I am an idiot," I proclaimed, "and I'm sorry."

His brow furrowed and he sighed; "I don't understand, Syd."

I kept his hand clasped tightly in both of my own and gave it a firm squeeze, trying to will him my feelings through my skin, but his confusion did not lessen. So, I pressed on. "I'm an idiot because I didn't realize- I didn't know how you felt about me. I kept waiting for a grand gesture or a proclamation, but that's not who you are. You show how you feel through the small gestures and everyday affection, and I ignored that. So when you told me-" I paused and took in a deep breath, feeling lightheaded, "When you told me about imprinting yesterday, it felt like we went from 0 to 100 over the course of an evening, and that scared me. Looking back now, though, I know it's been building. I just couldn't see the forest for the trees, you know?" When I finished, I was breathless and I searched his face, but, as per usual, he was hard to read.

Paul was quite for a moment, taking it all in. I waited anxiously, heart thumping away as I awaited his reply. I hoped I hadn't wrecked this. Finally, he quietly asked, "You want a proclamation? A gesture?"

I was confused as to how he'd come to that conclusion, and shook my head vehemently. "No, I don't need anything like that- Ah!" I denied, but was cut off when, lightning fast, Paul used his other arm and wrapped it around my waist and pulled me flush against him.

"Than you will have it," he said, his tone leaving no room for argument. Gently, he pried his hand from where mine held it, between us and caressed my cheek with his fingertips, so gingerly, I might have thought I was made of glass. "Sydney LeHaye," he began, his gaze steady and a warmth unlike any other I'd ever known shining from deep within his dark brown orbs and the deep green veins that cut through them. "You are stubborn, you are caring, you are hilarious and you are so intelligent. You challenge me, you perplex me and you fascinate me. And I want us to be together. Will you be my girlfriend?"

I was stunned, but was proud when I managed a breathless, "Yes!" after only a few seconds pause.

Paul's smile could have split the heavens in two before he leaned in and crushed his mouth over mine. I smiled into the kiss, sliding my hands up his bare chest and wrapping around his neck. He brought his other hand around my waist, pressing me ever tighter again him, and a moment later, in true movie fashion, he lifted and twirled me around. I broke the kiss to give a shocked shriek of joy. He set me back down, laughing, and pressed a kiss to my forehead.

He pulled back, giving me a grin. "Grand enough?" he asked cheekily.

I laughed, lightly smacking his chest. "Yeah... Good luck trying to top it," I joked.

"Challenge accepted," he replied before swooping in for another kiss.

"OY!" a voice yelled, causing us to pull apart. Leah stood on the steps of the house, covered by the awning, hands cupped around her mouth. "Lovebirds, newsflash. It's raining! Get your asses inside!"

Paul held out a hand for me to take, which I did, giving it a squeeze. He quickly brought it to his mouth and laid a kiss across my knuckles. "Ready to go back simultaneously mocked and congratulated by our friends?" he asked.

"If I'm with you, I'm ready for anything."


End file.
